THE 

FLORISTS'  MANUAL 


...BY... 

WILLIAM  SCOTT. 


A 

REFERENCE  BOOK 

FOR 

COMMERCIAL  FLORISTS. 


ILLUSTRATED. 
PRICE,  FIVE  DOLLARS. 


CHICAGO: 
FLORISTS'  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

1899. 


-j 


Dept 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1899,  by 
the  FLORISTS'  PUBLISHING  COMPANY,  in  the  Office  of  the  Librar- 
ian of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


INTRODUCTION 

hHE  author  of  the  following  pages  would  never  have  assumed  to  instruct  his  brother  florists, 
however  limited  their  experience  might  be,  had  not  he  received  many  flattering  comments 
on  his  cultural  notes  which  appeared  in  the  American  Florist,  and  later  in  the  Florists' 
Review.  These  notes  were  well  received,  even  by  men  who  were  able  to  teach  the  author, 
and  brought  to  my  busy  desk  hundreds  of  inquiries  on  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  which  I 
found  were  beginning  to  be  a  great  tax  on  my  time. 

Being  made  with  that  disposition  which  gratifies  itself  when  any  favor  can  be  bestowed,  we  deter- 
mined in  an  unguarded  moment  to  compile  our  knowledge  of  commercial  plants  into  a  volume,  and  if 
those  who  favor  us  with  a  perusal  of  its  pages  glean  only  one  hint  which  may  help  them  in  their  busi- 
ness they  will  have  received  value  for  their  money  and  we  shall  feel  highly  gratified  aside  from  any 
pecuniary  reward.  We  are  one  of  those  who  esteem  the  respect  and  approbation  of  our  fellow  men, 
and  particularly  those  in  our  own  calling,  far  above  riches,  but  if  a  substantial  reward  is  sent  us  for  our 
labors  we  shall  again  be  grateful. 

A  friend  of  venerable  age,  with  some  experience  as  a  writer,  a  student  of  horticultural  lore,  told 
me  last  winter  that  a  business  man  should  not  attempt  to  be  a  literary  man.  We  scarcely  even  then 
realized  the  truth  of  his  words  as  we  have  the  past  three  months.  We  scarcely  knew  at  the  start  what  a 
task  we  had  undertaken.  The  writing  has  been  done  at  odd  hours  snatched  from  business  cares,  and 
no  little  midnight  oil,  or  rather  gas,  has  helped  the  book  along. 

It  was  difficult  to  determine  the  limit  of  the  book,  but  as  will  be  apparent  few  plants  are  noticed 
but  those  of  commercial  value,  and  those  only  in  a  strictly  commercial  way.  Had  we  known  of  any 
work  giving  plain  cultural  directions  for  our  leading  plants  this  book  would  not  have  been  begun.  My 
own  business  embraces  nearly  every  branch,  from  selling  a  bunch  of  violets  over  the  counter  to  planting 
a  tree  or  seeding  a  lawn  or  building  a  greenhouse,  and  therefore  we  have  with  confidence  touched  on 
several  features  of  the  business  besides  the  growing. 

This  book  was  never  intended  for  men  who  have  made  specialties  of  a  few  plants  with  great 
success.  Being  specialists  they  have  reduced  their  business  to  a  science  and  make  no  mistakes,  but 
they  are  few  compared  to  the  great  army  of  florists  who  grow  and  retail  and  have  to  handle  a  great 
variety  of  plants.  Many  of  these  are  not  graduates  of  horticultural  establishments  but  have  left  some 
other  calling  to  engage  in  floriculture.  Another  class  is  the  young  man  who  has  been  brought  up  in 
places  where  the  rose  or  carnation,  or  perhaps  palms,  was  the  specialty  and  where  the  opportunity  of 
observing  the  care  or  culture  of  other  plants  was  limited.  To  such  a  one  we  believe  this  book  will 
be  of  service. 

Looking  back  over  thirty  years'  experience  in  this  country  we  are  amazed  and  gratified  at  the 
enormous  strides  the  business  of  floriculture  has  made,  and  why  should  the  limit  be  yet  reached?  We 
believe  with  confidence  that  the  use  of  flowers  and  plants  is  yet  to  grow  tenfold.  They  are  the  hand- 
maid of  refinement,  good  taste  and  real  gentility,  all  of  which  is  blessing  the  mass  of  the  people  more 
and  more.  We  believe  that  our  florist  shop  keepers  and  their  clerks  could  imbibe  a  little  more  knowl- 
edge of  the  plants  they  handle  without  any  detriment  to  their  health  or  prosperity. 

We  wish  to  acknowledge  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Taplin  the  several  valuable  articles  on  choice  palms, 
ferns  and  cycads  which  bear  his  initials.  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  is  no  better  authority 
than  Mr.  Taplin  on  those  special  plants.  For  the  very  practical  chapter  on  commercial  Orchids  we 
are  indebted  to  Mr.  Wm.  Hewson;  who  handles  a  cattleya  with  the  freedom,  quickness  and  success  that 
some  men  do  a  geranium.  To  my  good  friend  John  F.  Cowell,  Director  of  our  Botanic  Gardens,  I  am 
indebted  for  access  to  and  hints  on  his  collection  of  Nepenthes,  Bromeliads,  etc.  The  remainder  of 
the  pages  are  my  own  experience  and  observation. 

If  you  think  there  is  sometimes  a  little  extraneous  matter  that  is  not  connected  with  the  subject, 
and  may  be  called  frivolous,  don't  blame  the  author,  he  could  not  help  it  no  matter  however  much  he 
tried  to  suppress  it;  occasionally  there  had  to  be  a  slight  relief  from  the  dry  monotony  of  the  subject. 

And  last  the  author  owes  much  to  Mr.  G.  L.  Grant,  the  publisher,  who  has  so  ably  put  the  matter 
in  form  and  finely  illustrated  many  of  the  subjects. 

With  a  fervent  wish  that  with  all  its  imperfections  these  pages  will  be  appreciated  by  many, 
I  remain,  with  some  confidence  and  much  hope, 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

WILLIAM   SCOTT. 


Whatever  ability  I  may  possess  in  the  glorious  field 
of  horticulture,  although  far  less  than  my  early  oppor- 
tunities afforded,  I  inherited  from  my  beloved  father, 
who  was  a  good  man  and  a  great  gardener,  and  to  whose 
memory,  with  reverence,  I  dedicate  these  pages. 

WILLIAM  SCOTT. 


CONTENTS. 


Abutilon  9 

Acacia  9 

Acalypha    10 

Acanthophoenix    . .  •. 10 

Acer  japonicum  10 

Achillea  10 

Achimines     11 

Acrophyllum  11 

Adiantum  11 

Agapanthus  14 

Agave    14 

Ageratum    15 

Allamanda  15 

Alocasia    15 

Aloysia  citriodora 16 

Alternanthera   16 

Amaranthus    16 

Amaryllis    16 

Ampelopsis 17 

Ananas    17 

Annuals    ","•••> • 18 

Anthericum   18 

Anthurium    18 

Antirrhinum    18 

Aponogeton  distachyon 18 

Aquatics    19 

Araucaria    20 

Ardisia    20 

Aristolochia    21 

Asparagus 21 

Aspidistra    2z 

Asplenium 22 

Aster    23 

Astilbe  japonica  24 

Azalea   25 

Balsam    2fi 

Bay  Trees   26 

Bedding  Plants    27 

Begonia    31 

Bellis   33 

Bottom  Heat  34 

Bougainvillea    34 

Bouvardia    35 

Bromeliads    35 

Browallia  35 

Bulbs 35 

Caladium    39 

Calamus 40 

Calceolaria 40 

Camellia  41 

Canna 42 

Carludovica   44 

Carnation    44 

Celosia    53 

Centaurea  54 

Cheiranthus    54 

Chrysanthemum    54 

Cineraria    56 

Clematis  57 

Cobea   59 

Cold-frames     59 

Coleus   60 

Cosmos    61 

Cotyledon    62 

Crinum    62 

Crocus  62 

Croton     63 

Cycas     63 

Cyclamen  64 

Cytisus   65 


Dahlia    65 

Decorations    67 

Decorative  Material    (Wild) 69 

Decorative  Plants   71 

Deutzia  73 

Dianthus    73 

Dracaena    73 

Drainage    75 

Easter  Plants  76 

Epacris    80 

Erica    80 

Eriostemon    81 

Eucharis 81 

Eupatorium     83 

Euphorbia    83 

Ferns    84 

Fertilizers  and  Manures 92 

Ficus   94 

Fittonia    95 

Floral  Arrangements  95 

Freesia   100 

Fuchsia 102 

Fungicides  and  Insecticides   103 

Gardenia 106 

Geranium    '. 106 

Gladiolus     109 

Glazing    110 

Glechoma  Ill 

Gloxinia    Ill 

Grasses    Ill 

Greenhouse  Building  112 

Grevillea  robusta  . .  .* 120 

Hardy  Perennial  Plants 120 

Hardy  Shrubs 122 

Heating   125 

Hedera  (Ivy)  131 

Hedge  Plants   131 

Heliotrope    132 

Hibiscus 132 

Hollyhock    133 

Hotbeds    133 

Hoya 134 

Hydrangea    134 

Impatiens  Sultani 134 

Iresine   (Achyranthes)    134 

Jasminum    135 

Kalmia    135 

Koeniga  (Sweet  Alyssum)   135 

Lantana    135 

IJapageria    135 

Lawns 136 

Libonia    137 

Lilium    138 

Lily  of  the  Valley 140 

Linum  trigynum  142 

Lobelia 142 

Lysimachia  .... .142 

Manettia  142 

Maranta 143 

Martinezia  143 

Maurandya  143 

Metrosideros   144 

Mignonette    144 


Mimulus    145 

Moon  Flower    145 

Mulching 145 

Musa ? 146 

Myosotis   146 

Nepenthes   146 

Nierembergia   146 

Oleander   ..    : 147 

Orchids 149 

Othonna  159 

Oxalis   160 

Packing  Flowers  160 

Packing  Plants  162 

Paeonia   164 

Palms  165 

Pandanus  174 

Panicum  variegatum  176 

Pansy 176 

Pelargonium    178 

Peperomia  179 

Perilla  nankinensis   180 

Petunia   180 

Phlox  Drummondii 180 

Phlox   (Herbaceous)    180 

Pinks    180 

Poinsettia   181 

Potting 181 

Primula 183 

Rhododendron  184 

Richardia  Africana   185 

Ricinus   185 

Roses  185 

Palvia 199 

Santolina    200 

Sedum 200 

Seed  Sowing  200 

Selaginella 201 

Shading  202 

Skimmia  japonica  202 

Smilax   202 

Soils    203 

Solanum  . .    205 

Stephanotis 205 

Stevia  205 

Stocks   205 

Store  Management  . . .  .  i 206 

Swainsona    210 

Sweet  Peas  210 

System  21 3 

Thunbergia  alata   215 

Torenia   215 

Tropaeolum   215 

Tuberose    216 

Vallota  purpurea  216 

Vases : 217 

Ventilation  218 

Veranda  Boxes 219 

Verbena 220 

Vinca  ..    220 

Violet  ..-220 

Watering 222 

Zinnia  . 224 


THE  CAlffi 

FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


A  Reference  Book  for  Commercial  Florists. 


ABUTILON. 

Greenhouse  shrubs  with  drooping, 
bell-shaped  flowers,  ranging  in  color 
from  pure  white  to  crimson  and 
purple,  mostly  erect  in  growth.  A  few 
of  the  species  will  endure  a  few  de- 
grees of  frost,  but  they  are  best  treat- 
ed as  cool  greenhouse  plants  during 
our  winters.  The  hybrids  now  both 
in  beauty  of  leaf  and  flower  far  sur- 
pass the  true  species.  They  are 
largely  used  in  sub-tropical  flower 
gardening,  growing  very  freely  in  our 
warm  summers  and  are  fine  ornamen- 
tal plants  for  the  conservatory,  and 
can  either  be  grown  as  specimen  plants 
in  pots  or  trained  to  pillars  or  raft- 
ers. As  a  commercial  plant,  except 
for  flower  gardening,  they  are  not  of 
great  value,  being  strong  growers  and 
occupying  too  much  room  for  their 
value. 

They  are  easiest  propagated  from 
the  young  tender  growths.  If  desira- 
ble to  increase  your  stock  in  the  fall, 
September  is  the  best  month,  keep 
ing  the  sand  very  moist  and  not  al- 
lowing the  cuttings  to  wilt  from  the 
heat  or  sun.  The  plants  lift  from  the 
open  ground  perfectly  in  October  and 
if  cut.  back  during  the  winter  will  give 
you  lots  of  cuttings  which  root  most 
easily  in  the  ordinary  propagating 
bed. 

A.  vexillarium  is  a  drooping  species 
and  used  largely  in  hanging  baskets, 
veranda  boxes  and  carpet  bedding. 
For  a  drooping  plant  for  a  vase  they 
should  be  propagated  in  September 
from  the  young  shoots  of  plants  grow- 
ing outside.  By  spring  these  should 
be  in  3-in.  pots  and  are  most  useful 
for  the  purpose  described. 

Abutilons  are  troubled  with  few 
enemies.  The  hose  will  keep  down 
mealy  bug,  and  aphis  seldom  appear. 
Any  soil  that  water  passes  freely 
through  will  grow  abutilons,  but  much 
manure  should  be  avoided,  as  most  of 
the  kinds  are  very  free  growers.  The 
following  varieties  are  fine  decorative 
plants:  Savitzii,  green  and  white  fo- 
liage; Mrs.  J.  Laing,  strong  grower, 
flowers  bright  rose;  Souvenir  de  Bonn, 
variegated  foliage,  orange  flowers; 
Infanta  Eulalie,  compact  grower  for 
pots,  flowers  pink;  Boule  de  Niege, 


pure    white;     Thompsoni  plena,     free 
blooming  double  orange. 

ACACIA. 

A  very  large  genus  of  shrubs  or 
trees.  Those  of  most  commercial  val- 
ue are  from  temperate  regions,  South 
Australia  and  New  South  Wales.  Some 
of  the  species,  armata,  for  instance, 
make  neat,  compact  plants  for  pot 
culture,  while  pubescens,  one  of  the 
most  graceful  of  all,  is  splendidly 
adapted  for  training  on  a  pillar  or 
wall  of  a  light,  cool  house.  A  tem- 
perature of  45  degrees  in  winter  will 
suit  the  commercial  species,  but  their 
flowering  can  be  hastened  several 
weeks  by  more  heat  and  at  all  times 
an  abundance  of  water.  They  are 


most  free  flowering  and  the  prevailing 
colors  are  lemon  and  yellow.  In  a 
temperature  of  45  to  50  degrees  most 
of  the  species  flower  from  February  to 
May.  A  good  loam  with  a  fourth  of 
leaf-mould  or  in  the  absence  of  the 
latter,  Jadoo,  will  grow  any  of  the 
acacias,  but  the  soil  should  always  be 
in  that  condition  from  proper  drain- 
age that  water  passes  freely  through 

They  are  propagated  from  the  half 
ripened  wood  in  May  or  June,  that  is, 
the  shoots  made  the  previous  spring. 
Place  the  cuttings  in  pans  of  sand  or 
leaf-mould  and  sand  and  place  the 
pans  in  a  cold-frame,  which  shade  on 
hot  days  and  keep  close  till  growth 
begins.  When  rooted,  pot  off  and  grow 


Acacia  Pubescens. 


JO 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


on  in  a  cold  frame.  During  the  follow- 
ing winter  keep  in  a  cool  house  and 
after  danger  of  frost  shift  into  larger 
pots  and  plunge  outside,  where  Ihey 
must  be  well  supplied  with  water. 
They  should  be  stopped  as  soon  as 
they  grow  in  the  spring  to  induce  a 
branching  growth.  Although  their 
propagation  is  not  difficult,  it  will  be 
found  by  the  majority  of  our  florists 
more  profitable  to  import  those  plants 
that  are  wanted  for  our  spring  sales, 
as  the  price  of  well  grown,  compact 
plants  is  very  low  and  they  endure  the 
passage  without  the  slightest  injury. 
Any  plants  unsold  after  flowering 


ACALYPHA. 

A  genus  of  tropical  shrubs  that  are 
grown  entirely  for  the  attractiveness 
of  the  leaves  excepting  the  very  re- 
cent introduction,  A.  Sanderi,  which 
has  long,  cylindrical,  pendulous 
flowers  and  is  very  ornamental.  The 
acalypha  is  grown  largely  in  Europe 
as  an  ornamental  stove  plant,  but 
with  us  its  chief  value  is  as  a  sum- 
mer bedding  plant  for  mixed  borders 
or  sub-tropical  beds.  As  most  all  the 
species  are  from  the  tropical  islands 
of  the  Pacific,  their  requirements  can 
be  judged  accordingly. 


Acanthophoenix  Crinita. 


should  be  cut  back  severely,  shifted  if 
needed,  and  plunged  outside  during 
summer.  Few  insects  of  any  kind, 
attack  the  acacia;  plenty  of  water  at 
all  times  and  syringing  except  when  in 
flower  is  what  they  want. 

A.  pubescens  is  not  adapted  for  pot 
culture,  but  is  the  most  graceful  of  all 
the  genus,  and  for  cutting  as  sprays  is 
most  valuable.  It  should  be  planted 
out  either  as  a  standard  or  against  a 
pillar  or  wall.  The  most  valuable  spe- 
cies for  pot  culture  for  the  commercial 
florist  is  armata,  small  globular  flow- 
ers which  cover  the  whole  plant;  deal- 
bata,  strong  grower  with  handsome 
yellow  racemes;  Drummondi,  a  fine 
compact  plant  with  drooping,  cylin- 
drical lemon  colored  flowers.  There 
are  hundreds  of  species,  most  all  wor- 
thy of  a  place  in  a  conservatory,  but 
the  "few  species  mentioned  above  are 
the  best  for  commercial  use. 


The  most  economical  way  to  pro- 
duce plants  for  spring  use  is  to  lift  a 
few  .old  plants  before  any  danger  of 
frost.  These  could  be  used  for  deco- 
rating till  January,  then  shorten  back 
the  shoots,  and  if  the  plants  are  in  a 
strong  heat  they  will  soon  give  you 
a  number  of  young  growths,  which 
foot  readily  in  the  sand  in  a  good 
bottom  heat  and  by  end  of  May,  if 
kept  warm,  will  be  just  what  you  want 
for  planting  out  in  spring.  A  well  en- 
riched loam  is  all  they  want. 

There  are  half  a  dozen  or  more  de- 
sirable species  and  varieties  which 
give  a  variety  of  bronze,  brown,  green, 
red,  orange  and  carmine,  blotched  and 
variegated,  making  them  very  orna- 
mental for  summer  gardening. 

ACANTHOPHOENIX. 

A.  crinita  is  a  remarkably  handsome 
warm  house  'palm  that  has  been  in 
cultivation  for  the  past  thirty  years, 


but  is  still  rather  an  uncommon  spe- 
cies. It  has  much  the  habit  of  growth 
of  an  areca,  the  leaves  being  pinnate, 
the  leaflets  long  and  drooping,  and  the 
plant  in  general  very  graceful  in  ap- 
pearance. 

One  of  the  characteristics  that  dis- 
tinguish acanthophoenix  from  areca  is 
very  distinct  in  the  species  in  question, 
namely,  the  fact  that  the  former  is 
abundantly  supplied  with  long  black- 
ish spines  all  along  the  stems,  while 
no  true  areca  bears  spines,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  this  the  under  side  of  the 
leaves  of  A.  crinita  is  silvery  white. 
The  latter  peculiarity  doubtless  ac- 
counted for  an  erroneous  name  under 
which  this  palm  was  once  introduced, 
that  is,  Calamus  dealbata. 

Being  a  native  of  Seychelles,  and 
probably  of  low  moist  land  near  the 
coast  of  that  island,  we  find  that  this 
palm  is  best  suited  under  stove  cult- 
ure, a  night  temperature  of  70  degrees 
and  plenty  of  water  being  among  the 
chief  essentials  to  its  welfare,  while  a 
rather  light  and  well  drained  soil 
seems  to  give  the  best  results. 

In  common  with  palms  in  general 
that  require  warm  treatment,  there  is 
the  ever-present  probability  of  finding 
some  injurious  insects  on  acantho- 
phoenix, the  most  likely  pests  being 
scale  and,  unless  well  syringed,  also 
red  spider,  but  with  proper  attention 
these  pests  may  be  kept  down,  and  so 
beautiful  a  palm  is  worthy  of  a  little 
extra  attention  in  the  line  of  cleanli- 
ness. 

Seeds  are  the  only  means  of  propa- 
gation for  A.  crinita,  and  as  the  seeds 
of  this  species  sometimes  take  over 
two  years  to  germinate,  it  is  scarcely 
probable  that  this  palm  will  become 
popular  for  trade  purposes.  W.  H.  T. 

ACER  JAPONICUM  (JAPAN  MAPLE.) 

The  Japan  maples  are  now  grown  in 
pots  for  conservatory  decoration,  and 
many  are  sold  and  forced  for  Easter. 
They  are  largely  imported,  but  can 
also  be  obtained  from  American  nur- 
series. Being  perfectly  hardy  they 
can  be  procured  in  the  fall  and  stored 
away  in  a  cold-pit  till  they  are  wanted 
to  pot  and  force.  Give  them  two 
months  in  the  house  from  time  of  pot- 
ting till  they  are  wanted  in  full  leaf. 
If  forced  rapidly  they  are  more  likely 
to  -wilt  when  exposed  to  cold  wind  or 
dryness. 

While  I  have  alluded  to  these  in  the 
article  on  "Trees  and  Shrubs"  I  will 
add  here  that  they  are  most  beautiful 
little  ornamentals  for  the  lawn,  either 
in  groups  or  singly.  They  proved  dur- 
ing the  last  unusually  long,  cold  winter 
to  be  entirely  hardy,  coming  through 
the  winter  unhurt  and  without  the 
slightest  protection. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  A.  Ja- 
ponicum,  the  foliage  shaded  from  yel- 
low to  blood  red,  and  all  are  worth 
growing. 

ACHILLEA. 

This  is  a  large  genus  of  hardy  peren- 
nials, many  of  them  suitable  for  the 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


n 


Vase  of  Achillea  the  Pearl. 


border  and  many  are  very  valuable  for 
the  rockwork,  but  of  little  use  to  the 
florist.  The  one  most  useful  to  the 
florist  and  deserving  special  notice  is 
"The  Pearl."  This  little  plant  will 
thrive  in  any  soil,  is  absolutely  hardy, 
and  should  be  in  every  florist's  gar- 
den. It  flowers  in  July  and  August. 

It  is  most  useful  as  a  cut  flower,  and 
we  have  found  it  of  great  service  in 
design  work  when  short  of  carnations. 

The  plants  spread  rapidly  and  every 
third  or  fourth  year  they  should  be 
lifted,  divided,  and  replanted  in  more 
compact  rows  in  the  garden.  This  can 
be  done  in  early  spring  and  you  will 
not  lose  the  following  summer's  crop 
of  flowers. 

The  plant  is  remarkably  free  flower- 
ing, it  being  just  a  mass  of  the  small 
heads  of  white  blooms,  but  what  makes 
it  of  more  than  ordinary  value  is  the 
good  stem  you  can  cut  with  the  flow- 
ers. 

ACHIMINES. 

Hot-house  herbaceous  perennial 
tuberous-rooted  plants  that  are  held 
in  high  esteem  in  the  gardens  of  Eu- 


rope but  seldom  seen  here.  They  are 
usually  grown  in  pans  from  6  to  12 
inches  across  and  4  inches  deep.  They 
should  have  drainage  and  the  compost 
should  be  a  good  light  loam  to  which 
has  been  added  a  fourth  of  leaf-mould 
and  rotted  manure.  They  like  neither 
a  stagnant  moisture  nor  a  heavy  soil. 

Although  not  at  all  likely  to  become 
popular  as  a  commercial  plant  they 
are  by  no  means  difficult  to  grow. 
The  small  soft  roots  should  be  planted 
in  the  pans  about  one  inch  apart  in 
February  or  March,  pressing  the  roots 
into  the  soil  half  an  inch  below  the 
surface,  and  started  growing  in  a 
temperature  of  60  degrees.  Later  on, 
as  sprimg  advances,  any  house  will  do 
for  them.  Shade  from  .$£  hottest 
suns.  As  they  grow  th^jr  like  an 
abundance  of  water,  and  being  sub- 
ject to  greenfly  and  red  spider  they 
must  be  lightly  but  regularly  fumi- 
gated, and  up  to  flowering  time  give 
them  a  daily  syringing. 

They  are,  however  well  grown,  en- 
tirely useless  unless  each  stem  is  tied 
to  a  small  stake.  They  last  a  long 
time  in  flower.  When  flowering  is 


done  gradually  withhold  water  till 
the  foliage  is  entirely  gone,  then  store 
away  under  a  warm,  dry  bench  till  the 
following  spring.  In  starting  them  in 
the  spring  shake  out  of  the  old  soil 
entirely.  They  are  propagated  by^cut- 
tings,  pieces  of  the  stem  growing  free- 
ly in  the  spring  with  bottom  heat; 
also  by  seed,  sown  in  early  spring. 
The  beginner  had,  however,  better 
buy  the  roots  from  a  seedsman. 

Although  not  of  commercial  value 
the  achimines  is  a  splendid  plant  for  a 
private  greenhouse  during  the  sum- 
mer months.  There  is  a  score  of  spe- 
cies, nearly  all  from  tropical  America, 
and  from  these  hundreds  of  hybrid 
varieties.  And  it  is  the  hybrids  that 
are  cultivated. 

ACHYRANTHES. 
See  Bedding  Plants. 

ACROPHYLLUM. 

A  small  evergreen  shrub  that  is 
valuable  for  the  private  conservatory, 
flowering  freely  during  the  spring 
months.  It  is  at  home  in  a  cool  green- 
house but  must  not  be  exposed  to  frost. 
In  summer  it  can  be  plunged  outside. 
They  require  shifting  as  they  grow, 
which  should  be  done  before  they 
flower  in  spring.  They  can  be  propa- 
gated from  the  half-ripened  wood  in 
May  and  June.  Like  most  of  the  Aus- 
tralian plants  they  thrive  in  a  good 
coarse  loam.  A.  venosum  is  the  only 
species,  which  bears  dense  spikes  of 
pinkish  white  flowers. 

ADIANTUM. 

For  the  most  useful  commercial  adi- 
antums  see  the  article  on  Ferns,  in 
which  all  the  most  important  commer- 
cial ferns  are  treated  collectively.  The 
following  adiantum  notes  are  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Taplin: 

A.  LEGRANDI.  THe  maidenhair 
family  includes  a  wonderful  variety  in 
both  size  and  form,  and  a  collection 
embracing  all  the  distinct  forms 
grown  into  specimens  would  occupy  a 
very  large  house. 

A.  Legrandi  belongs  to  the  dwarf 
section,  the  stipes  or  stems  being  us- 
ually but  a  few  inches  in  length  and 
the  fronds  very  compact  and  closely 
clothed  with  small  pinnae.  In  fact  the 
growth  in  small  plants  is  so  close  and 
overlapping  that  the  foliage  is  quite 
subject  to  damping  off  unless  the 
house  in  which  it  is  grown  is  kept  well 
ventilated. 

Regarding  the  origin  of  this  fern  but 
little  is  known,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  it  is  a  seedling  variation  from 
Adiantum  Pecottii,  which  it  very  much 
resembles,  the  chief  distinction  appar- 
ently being  found  in  the  longer  leaf 
stems  of  A.  Legrandi,  while  both  va- 
rieties present  the  same  dark  green 
color  of  the  foliage.  As  a  trade  fern 
A.  Legrandi  has  not  become  promi- 
nent, and  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  less 
frequently  seen  in  trade  collections 
now  than  it  was  a  few  years  ago,  the 
demand  in  this  line  being  confined  to 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Adiantum  Legrandi. 


bright  pink  in  color,  finally  changing 
to  deep  green. 

The  pinnae  of  the  fertile  fronds  are 
usually  smaller,  the  spores  being  found 
in  an  almost  continuous  band  around 
the  margin.  These  spores  germinate 
fairly  well  if  carefully  gathered  and 
preserved,  and  the  young  plants  thus 
secured  are  much  better  than  those  ob- 
tained from  division  of  the  old  crowns, 
as  they  grow  more  freely  and  in  better 
form. 

No  special  difficulty  is  experienced 
in  the  culture  of  A.  macrophyllum, 
the  main  features  being  a  moderately 
light  soil,  good  drainage,  and  the  glass 
shaded  throughout  the  greater  portion 
of  the  year.  In  regard  to  temperature, 
the  same  may  be  given  as  to  A.  Far- 
leyense,  namely,  from  65  to  70  degrees 
at  night,  and  also  like  the  latter  va- 
riety it  may  be  said  that  A.  macro- 
phyllum does  not  like  a  strong  draught 
over  the  young  foliage  while  unfold- 
ing, else  it  is  likely  to  be  crippled, 
though  after  the  fronds  of  this  species 
are  fully  hardened  they  will  stand 
quite  a  good  deal  of  exposure  without 
injury. 

A.  macrophyllum  is  a  native  of  the 
West  Indies  and  tropical  America,  and 
has  been  in  cultivation  for  a  little 
more  than  a  century,  though  yet  un- 
common in  trade  collections. 

A.  MUNDULUM.  This  is  one  of  the 
many  interesting  and  useful  forms  of 
Adiantum  cuneatum,  and  is  correctly 
termed  Adiantum  cuneatum  mundu- 


ferns  that  are  more  sturdy  and  less 
brittle. 

The  culture  of  A.  Legrandi  presents 
no  special  difficulty,  apart  from  the 
liability  to  damping  that  has  already 
been  alluded  to,  and  by  keeping  the 
water  off  the  foliage  and  giving  free 
ventilation,  the  trouble  from  this 
cause  may  be  reduced  greatly. 

In  getting  up  specimens  of  these 
small  growing  adiantums  for  exhibi- 
tion purposes,  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
group  several  young  plants  in  a  pan 
about  10  inches  in  diameter,  and  a 
shapely  plant  may  thus  be  formed  in 
a  few  months  by  treating  them  in  the 
same  manner  as  one  would  A.  cune- 
atum for  a  similar  purpose. 

A.  MACROPHYLLUM.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  distinct  of  the  large  fam- 
ily of  maidenhair  ferns,  and  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  to  many  persons  to  whom 
the  idea  of  a  maidenhair  fern  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  light  and  airy  fronds 
of  A.  cuneatum,  the  rather  stiff  and 
heavy  looking  leaves  of  this  species 
would  seem  to  belong  to  an  entirely 
different  genus. 

The  large  pinnated  species  of  adian- 
tum,  among  which  we  find  A.  macro- 
phyllum, A.  peruvianum,  A.  See- 
mannii  and  A.  Wilsonii,  form  a  very 
interesting  group,  and  one  which  adds 
greatly  to  the  beauty  and  variety  of  a 
collection  of  ferns.  Adiantum  macro- 
phyllum is  a  moderate  growing  spe- 
cies, the  fronds  being  erect,  from  one 
to  two  feet  high,  simple  pinnate,  and 
having  stiff  black  stems. 


Adiantum  Macrophyllum. 


The  pinnae  of  the  barren  fronds  are 
very  large,  being  frequently  three  to 
four  inches  long,  by  about  two  inches 
wide,  and  when  first  unfolding  are 


lum.  The  varietal  name,  which  signi- 
fies neat,  is  well  applied  in  this  case, 
the  plant  being  of  dwarf  and  com- 
pact habit,  and  is  better  adapted  for 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J3 


small  ferneries  than  as  an  exhibition 
plant. 

The  fronds  of  A.  c.  mundulum  are 
shorter  and  rather  stiffer  than  those  of 
the  parent  form,  not  often  more  than 
nine  or  ten  inches  long,  very  dark 
green,  and  closely  furnished  with  nar- 
row, wedge-shaped  pinnae.  In  general 
outline  the  fronds  are  deltoid,  and 
when  well  matured  they  possess  suffi- 
cient substance  to  be  useful  in  cut 
flower  work,  where  a  small  frond  is 
required. 

A.  c.  mundulum  comes  true  from 
spores,  and  also  germinates  freely,  the 
spores  being  produced  abundantly  on 
old  plants,  and  it  flourishes  under  the 
same  treatment  as  A.  cuneatum,  thus 
being  by  no  means  difficult  to  man- 
age. 

Nicely  grown  plants  in  3-inch  pots 
are  very  short  and  bushy,  and  may  be 
used  to  advantage  where  A.  cuneatum 
proves  too  tall,  and  if  the  plants  are 
not  soft  when  used,  will  possibly  last  a 
little  longer  than  the  last  named  fern, 
under  the  same  conditions. 

A.  c.  mundulum  is  of  garden  origin, 
and  although  in  cultivation  since  1S79, 
is  not  frequently  met  with  in  the  trade, 
in  fact,  seems  scarcer  now  than  it  was 
ten  years  ago,  no  doubt  owing  to  the 
greater  demand  for  ferns  of  more  en- 
durance than  is  found  among  the  maid- 
enhairs in  general. 

A.  TETRAPHYLLUM.  Among  the 
less  common  species  of  maidenhair 
ferns,  Adiantum  tetraphyllum  is  de- 
serving of  special  mention,  and  some 
idea  of  its  general  outline  may  be  had 


from  the  illustration  which  accompa- 
nies this  note.  But,  unfortunately,  an 
ordinary  photograph  fails  to  show  us 
the  fine  distinctions  of  coloring  that 
present  themselves  in  the  living  plant, 
and  in  consequence  we  are  compelled 
to  fall  back  upon  cold  type  for  our 
descriptions. 
The  plant  in  question  has  been  found 


in  fern  collections  for  many  years 
past,  and  has  produced  an  occasional 
variation  in  form  from  time  to  time, 
though  it  is  not  a  notably  prolific  spe- 
cies, perhaps  the  best  of  these  varia- 
tions from  the  type  being  that  known 
as  A.  tetraphyllum  gracile,  in  which 
the  pinnae  are  rather  narrower  than 
those  of  the  original  species  and  the 


Adiantum  Mundulum. 


Adiantum  Tetraphyllum. 


young  fronds  show  a  higher  coloring 
than  is  found  on  the  type. 

A.  tetraphyllum  may  -be  classed  as 
a  moderate  grower,  the  fronds  reach- 
ing a  height  of  12  to  15  inches,  and  are 
usually  four  times  divided,  or  rather 
divided  into  four  segments.  While  un- 
folding the  young  fronds  are  frequent- 
ly bright  pink,  this  color  gradually 
fading  as  the  frond  develops,  until  the 
mature  leaf  becomes  dark  green. 

This  species  prefers  warm  house 
treatment,  is  evergreen,  and  grows 
best  in  a  rather  loose  and  open  com- 
post. It  requires  plenty  of  water  at 
the  root,  but  during  the  winter  espe- 
cially should  not  be  watered  overhead 
frequently,  or  the  fronds  are  liable  to 
become  rusty.  Snails  seem  to  have  a 
special  liking  for  the  young  foliage  of 
A.  tetraphyllum,  and  close  watching 
is  required  to  get  the  best  of  these 
pests. 

A.  WIEGANDII.  A  few  years  since 
a  much  greater  variety  of  ferns  seemed 
to  be  grown  for  florists'  use  than  is 
now  found  among  the  large  trade 
growers.  It  is  evidently  a  case  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  or  rather  of  the 
species  and  varieties  that  may  be  pro- 
duced in  large  quantities  with  a  mini- 
mum expenditure  of  time  and  labor. 
Adiantum  Wiegandii  is  one  of  those 
varieties  that  has  almost  disappeared 
within  a  few  years,  though  it  is  not  a 
particularly  tender  fern,  or  one  that  is 
difficult  to  reproduce. 


J4 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


We  mention  it  as  a  variety  rather 
than  a  species,  because  it  seems  prob- 
able that  this  fern  is  a  form  of  Adian- 
tum  capillus-veneris,  or  else  a  cross 
between  that  species  and  A.  cuneatum, 
its  origin  being  somewhat  obscure. 
But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  fern  in  ques- 
tion is  a  very  attractive  plant  of  dwarf 
and  sturdy  growth,  the  fronds  being 
almost  upright,  having  black  Ftems 
and  rather  large  pinnae  that  are  in- 
clined to  be  cristate. 

A.  Wiegandii  is  compact  in  habit 
and  in  a  large  plant  reaches  a  height 


AECHMEA. 
See  Bromeliads. 

AERIDES. 

See  Orchids. 

AGAPANTHUS. 

A  genus  of  strong  growing,  hand- 
some greenhouse  plants  which  do  well 
out  of  doors  during  summer,  and  when 
slightly  protected  will  live  through 
the  winter  where  there  is  not  more 
than  10  degrees  of  frost.  In  the 


Adiantum  Wiegandii. 


of  12  to  15  inches,  aHd  holds  its  foliage 
in  good  condition  during  the  winter. 
This  fern  comes  freely  from  spores, 
the  latter  being  plentifully  borne  by 
plants  a  year  old  and  upwards,  and  the 
seedlings  soon  become  satisfactory 
plants  in  3-inch  pots  if  treated  in  the 
same  manner  as  A.  cuneatum,  a  night 
temperature  of  60  degrees  being  a 
proper  mark  at  which  to  carry  these 
ferns. 

But  little  trouble  is  experienced 
from  "damping"  of  the  foliage  with  A. 
Wiegandii  during  the  winter,  even 
when  grown  quite  close  together,  the 
regular  use  of  the  hose  having  less  ef- 
fect upon  this  fern  than  is  often  found 
with  adiantums  of  low  and  compact 
habit.  Thoroughly  matured  fronds 
stand  well  when  cut,  and  the  small 
plants  will  last  longer  than  those  of  A. 
cuneatum  in  a  fern  pan,  providing 
they  are  not  used  in  too  soft  a  condi- 
tion. 


south  of  England  A.  umbellatus  does 
well  planted  out  of  doors,  with  us  it 
requires  large  pots  or  tubs  and  thrives 
in  a  well  enriched  coarse  loam.  In 
summer  you  cannot  well  over  water 
them.  In  winter  they  can  be  stored 
under  a  bench  in  a  cool  house  and  will 
then  require  very  little  water.  But  be 
careful  after  so  keeping  them  all  win- 
ter not  to  expose  them  to  a  late  spring 
frost  or  they  will  suffer  and  their 
beauty  be  marred  for  the  whole  sum- 
mer. They  grow  very  fast  and  can  be 
rapidly  multiplied  by  division. 

The  varieties  are  all  from  A.  um- 
bellatus, introduced  into  Europe  from 
South  Africa  two  centuries  ago.  Its 
erect  stem  and  showy  umbel  of  bright 
blue  flowers  is  familiar  to  all.  The 
best  known  varieties  are  albidus,  pure 
white;  aureus,  leaves  striped;  varie- 
gatus,  smaller  but  finely  variegated 
leaves;  and  maximus,  a  blue  of  the 
largest  size,  as  its  name  denotes. 


AGAVE. 

This  noble  genus  includes  a  great 
number  of  species,  one  of  them  at 
least  being  known  to  every  one — the 
well  known  "Century  Plant."  All  the 
species  have  one  characteristic:  when 
fully  matured  they  send  up  a  stately 
flower  spike  from  the  center  of  the 
crown  of  leaves  and  then  die.  This  is 
the  case  with  the  great  majority,  al- 
though there  are  a  few  that  continue 
to  flower  year  after  year.  They  are 
almost  all  from  Mexico,  a  few  from 
South  America  and  one  or  two  from 
our  extreme  southwestern  states. 

There  is  a  widespread  fallacy  in  con- 
nection with  Agave  Americana.  It  is 
popularly  supposed  that  they  live  100 
years  and  then  flower  and  die,  hence 
the  familiar  name.  They  will  not 
flower  till  they  have  made  their  full 
growth,  but  that  may  be  50  years  or 
75  years.  We  remember  a  pair  of  A. 
Americana  that  we  had  watched  from 
infancy,  one  the  plain  green  and  one 
variegated.  They  were  of  immense 
weight,  each  weighing  a  ton  or  more 
with  the  large  tub  and  soil.  About 
1856  they  both  flowered  together  and 
sent  their  candelabra-like  spikes  25 
feet  in  the  air.  It  was  a  remarkable 
co-incidence  that  both  showed  flower 
the  same  season  as  no  one  knew  their 
ages  and  the  one  who  had  taken  them 
as  suckers  from  the  parent  plamt  was 
long  gone  from  his  field  ^of  labor. 

Within  40  years  there  have  been 
several  distinct  and  beautiful  species 
discovered  in  Mexico,  some  of  which 
have  not  yet  flowered  and  no  knowl- 
edge of  their  flower  is  available.  Most 
of  the  species  are  stemless,  but  not  all. 
their  fleshy  leaves  radiating  symmet- 
rically from  near  the  base  of  the  plant. 
Nicholson's  Dictionary  of  Gardening 
enumerates  nearly  one  hundred  spe- 
cies and  then  states  there  are  many 
more  which  it  is  not  worth  while  to  de- 
scribe as  there  is  only  one  specimen  of 
each  in  cultivation.  They  vary  in  size 
from  18  inches  in  height  and  the  same 
in  width  to  the  majestic  species  of  10 
feet  in  diameter. 

The  smaller  species  make  beautiful 
plants  for  the  greenhouse  or  for  out- 
door decoration,  and  the  large  species 
are  noble  objects  for  the  adornment 
of  large  grounds  but  get  very  heavy 
and  awkward  to  handle  when  of  any 
considerable  size.  Few  plants  will  put 
up  with  the  rough  treatment  that  is 
often  given  the  agave.  Their  thick, 
succulent  leaves  provide  them  with 
the  means  of  resisting  long  periods  of 
drought. 

The  same  general  treatment  will 
suit  all  the  species.  A  well  drained 
pot  or  tub,  with  good  turfy  loam;  add 
leaf-mould  or  sand  if  heavy.  They  will 
stand  the  strongest  sun  out  of  doors 
and  should  receive  plenty  of  water. 
In  winter,  if  you  wish  merely  to  store 
them  for  next  season's  growth  they 
will  do  very  well  in  any  cool  house  or 
even  shed,  but  must  not  freeze,  and 
when  the  temperature  is  low  they  will 
do  without  water  for  weeks.  They 
are  easily  propagated  by  suckers, 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


15 


which  you  have  only  to  cut  off  and 
pot. 

The  rarer  species  are  too  expensive 
for  the  commercial  florist  and  in  too 
little  demand,  and  the  larger  species 
require  too  much  labor  and  room  to  be 
of  any  profit;  they  are  best  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  private  gardener. 

AGERATUM. 

Since  the  wane  of  the  carpet  bedding 
and  the  return  of  the  popular  flower- 
ing plants  to  flower  garden  favor  the 
ageratum  has  been  in  constant  demand. 
A.  Mexicanum  is  the  only  species  in 
which  we  are  interested.  By  selec- 
tion many  improvements  have  been 
made,  a  more  spreading  and  dwarf 
plant  has  been  produced  as  well  as  a 
variation  in  color.  It  is  well  to  try 
the  new  varieties  as  they  are  dissemi- 
nated as  they  are  very  inexpensive 
and  frequently  great  improvements 
on  existing  varieties. 

I  have  found  that  when  propagated 
by  cuttings  for  a  few  years  a  variety 
will  often  lose  its  character  and  grad- 
ually revert  back  to  the  original  type. 
If  I  were  asked  what  was  the  easiest 
of  all  plants  to  propagate  I  would  say 
that  the  ageratum  was  absolutely  the 
one,  and  so  it  is.  Nothing  but  the 
most  willful  neglect  will  cause  a  batch 
of  cuttings  to  fail.  New  varieties  are, 
of  course,  raised  from  seed,  which  can 
be  sown  in  January  and  the  seedlings 
will  flower  freely  by  the  following 
June. 

It  is  by  cuttings  that  our  varieties 
are  perpetuated.  Lift  a  few  old  plants 
and  pot  into  5  or  6-inch  pots  before 
frost.  Keep  them  cool  and  light  till 
after  Christmas,  when  you  can  begin 
propagating.  It  is  well,  however,  not 
to  propagate  too  early  as  the  plants 
get  stunted  when  not  shifted  on  and 
it  does  not  by  any  means  pay  to  have 
this  cheap  bedding  plant  in  larger 
than  3-inch,  or  at  most  4-inch  pots. 
The  cuttings  root  freely  with  or  with- 
out bottom  heat  and  the  plants  grow 
rapidly  in  a  temperature  of  50  degrees. 
Their  only  enemy  is  red  spider,  which 
must  be  kept  down  by  frequent  sy- 
ringing and  the  weekly  fumigation. 

New  varieties  of  both  the  blue  and 
white  are  being  constantly  sent  out. 
The  dwarf,  compact  sorts  are  the  most, 
valuable.  The  variegated  variety  of 
Mexicanum  is  of  little  value. 

ALLAMANDA. 

Few  plants  bring  back  childhood's 
days  more  vivdly  than  the  showy  al- 
lamanda.  Though  not  a  commercial 
florist's  flower  it  hardly  has  a  rival  as 
a  hot-house  climber.  The  leaves  are 
sharp-pointed,  oblong,  and  come  three 
or  four  in  a  whorl.  The  flowers  are 
funnel  shaped,  3  to  5  inches  across 
and  rich  yellow.  Allamandas  are  usu- 
ally seen  trained  near  the  roof  where 
they  do  well  and  add  greatly  to  the 
beauty  of  the  house.  They  are  also 
grown  as  specimens  trained  to  a  bal- 
loon-shaped or  flat  wire  frame  3  or  4 
feet  high.  In  a  competition  for  a 
number  of  flowering  stove  and  green- 


house plants  in  any  horticultural  exhi- 
bition in  Europe  the  allamanda  would 
be  sure  to  be  one.  The  only  use  the 
florist  could  make  of  the  flowers,  rich 
and  fine  as  they  are,  would  be  to  take 
sprays  of  the  vine  covered  with 
flowers  for  the  decoration  of  mirrors 
or  chandeliers.  For  an  elaborate 
golden  wedding  they  would  be  a  glori- 
ous acquisition. 

Plants  covering  a  large  roof  space 
would  need  a  tub,  and  I  have  seen 
them  planted  in  the  border  at  the  end 
of  the  house.  A  turfy  loam  with  a 
sixth  of  cow  manure,  adding  a  tenth  of 
charcoal  to  the  compost,  suits  them 
well.  They  are  from  Equatorial  Amer- 
ica, so  you  will  know  what  they  want 
in  temperature.  Most  of  the  species 
flower  in  June  and  July,  but  Schottii, 
one  of  the  finest,  flowers  in  August  and 
September.  They  are  little  troubled 
by  insects  of  any  kind,  syringing  and 
fumigating  keeping  them  clean  with- 
out any  trouble.  In  the  spring  and 
summer  they  want  lots  of  water;  in 
the  darker  winter  months  much  less. 
In  our  hot  summers  they  require 
shade  from  the  brightest  sun,  but  only 


or  so  of  the  last  year's  growth  will 
root  easily  in  our  ordinary  propagat- 
ing benches  where  there  is  a  little  bot- 
tom heat,  making  each  cutting  with 
two  or  three  eyes.  Remember  they  are 
from  the  tropics  and  should  not  be 
exposed  to  a  lower  temperature  than 
60  degrees  at  any  time  of  the  year. 

Of  the  several  species  and  hybrids 
the  following  can  be  selected  as  the 
best:  A.  Chelsonii,  yellow,  large, 
flowers  in  July;  A.  grandiflora,  pale 
yellow,  large,  flowers  in  June;  A.  no- 
bilis,  bright  yellow,  large,  flowers  in 
July;  A.  Schottii,  yellow,  throat 
striped  with  brown,  very  free  bloomer, 
the  best  known  and  best  for  all  pur- 
poses. 

ALOCASIA. 

These  beautiful  stove  plants  are 
grown  entirely  for  the  beauty  of  their 
leaves.  They  delight  in  our  hot  sum- 
mers under  glass  and  must  not  be  al- 
lowed to  go  below  60  degrees  in  the 
winter  months.  They  require  shade 
in  the  bright  days  of  spring  and  sum- 
mer, and  where  the  house  is  heavily 
shaded  they  will  be  greatly  benefited 


Alocasia  Metallica. 


enough  to  keep  them  from  burning. 
They  like  the  light,  which  they  get  in 
abundance  when  trained  to  the  roof. 
In  the  late  winter  months,  before  they 
begin  to  grow,  they  should  be  pruned 
back  as  we  do  our  hot-house  grape 
vines,  cutting  back  the  previous  year's 
growth  to  two  or  three  eyes.  If  you 
wish  to  propagate  them  the  last  foot 


by  a  little  fire  heat  at  night.  In 
shaded  houses  during  rainy  weather 
and  cold  nights,  even  in  summer, 
there  is  a  dampness  and  stagnation 
that  is  very  uncongenial  to  most 
plants,  and  exotics  in  particular 
should  have  a  little  fire  heat. 

The  compost  in  which  they  delight  is 
one-third  fibrous  peat  or  Jadoo,  one- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


third  turfy  loam  in  coarse  lumps  and 
one-third  chopped  sphagnum,  to  which 
add  some  charcoal.  Although  the  roots 
delight  in  moisture  it  must  not  be 
stagnant  around  them,  and  the  pots 
should  be  filled  within  a  few  inches  of 
the  rim  with  broken  crocks.  Keep  the 
roots  and  the  potting  material  well 
above  the  edge  of  the  pot  and  cover 
the  surface  of  the  compost  with  live 
sphagnum,  in  which  the  young  roots 
thrive.  They  must  be  given  an  abund- 
ance of  water  in  summer,  but  much 
less  in  winter.  It  is  not  only  the  water 
they  receive  on  the  surface  that  bene- 
fits them,  but  they  require  a  humid, 
warm  atmosphere. 

The  best  time  to  increase  your  stock 
of  alocasias  is  in  the  spring  by  divid- 
ing the  stems  or  rhizomes,  which 
when  first  taken  off  and  started 
should  have  a  close,  moist  and  warm 
temperature  and  be  away  from  all 
draughts  of  air.  A  Wardian  case  on 
the  greenhouse  bench  with  some  bot- 
tom heat  is  the  ideal  place. 

The  leaves  are  large,  from  one  to 
two  feet  in  length.  All  are  beautiful, 
varying  in  coloring  and  markings 
from  the  well  known  A.  metallica  or 
cuprea,  a  dark  metallic  bronze,  to  A. 
longiloba,  green  with  silvery  markings. 
Among  the  best  species  and  hybrids 
are  those  above  mentioned  and  A.  hy- 
brida,  A.  Jenningsii,  A.  Johnstonii,  A. 
Sedenii,  A.  Thibautiana,  A.  variegata, 
and  many  others,  all  beautiful  plants 
for  the  private  collection. 

ALOYSIA  CITRIODORA. 

This  universally  liked  plant  is  com- 
mercially known  the  world  over  as 
Lemon  Verbena.  It  is  classed  as  a  de- 
ciduous shrub  and  is  the  sole  repre- 
sentative of  the  genus.  Where  hardy 
I  doubt  whether  it  is  quite  deciduous. 
It  makes  a  fine  plant  when  planted 
against  the  wall  or  pillar  in  the  green- 
house, but  it  is  as  a  sweet  scented 
plant  for  our  gardens  that  we  most 
prize  it,  and  every  mixed  border,  and 
every  garden  large  or  small  has  one  or 
more.  The  florist  finds  this  a  most 
useful  plant  for  cutting  in  the  summer 
time,  for  what  can  be  more  welcome 
in  a  bunch  of  flowers  than  a  few  sprays 
of  the  sweet  Lemon  Verbena. 

Don't  sell  out  clean  in  the  spring. 
Save  a  dozen  plants  and  shift  them  on, 
plunging  them  outside  in  pots  in  sum- 
mer. At  the  approach  of  frost  bring 
them  in  and  stand  them  under  your 
lightest  and  coolest  bench  and  give 
them  only  water  enough  to  keep  the 
wood  from  shrivelling.  In  early  Feb- 
ruary we  shake  them  out,  shorten  back 
the  unripened  and  weak  wood  and 
start  them  going  again  in  fr*>sh  soil 
and  pots,  with  us  a  4-inch.  Placed  in 
a  temperature  of  55  degrees,  in  a  few 
weeks  they  are  covered  with  young 
growths  which  are  just  the  thing  for 
cuttings.  They  root  easily  but  not 
nearly  so  surely  as  many  of  the  soft- 
wooded  plants.  I  prefer  the  sand  to 
be  a  little  warmer  than  the  house. 
Keep  the  sand  well  soaked,  twice  a  day 
is  not  too  often,  and  never  let  the  cut- 
tings wilt  from  the  sun  or  dryness. 


In  April  we  shift  them  from  a  2-inch 
to  a  3-inch  pot  and  plunge  in  a  mild 
hot-bed,  where  by  the  middle  of  May, 
with  one  pinching,  they  will  have  made 
fine,  bushy  plants.  They  want  lots  of 
syringing  to  prevent  red  spider,  and  if 
the  proper  fumigation  is  regularly  giv- 
en they  will  not  be  troubled  with  fly. 
A  florist  should  always  be  supplied 
with  them  for  they  are  usually  diffi- 
cult to  procure  when  wanted. 

ALTERNANTHERA. 

It  seems  as  though  it  would  have 
been  almost  impossible  to  carry  out 
the  wonderful  designs  in  carpet  bed- 
ding had  we  not  had  these  little  plants 
to  serve  us.  Carpet,  bedding  came  into 
its  greatest  popularity  shortly  after  the 
introduction  of  the  alternanthera,  some 
30  years  ago.  It  may  be  that  their 
great  fitness  for  that  style  of  bedding 
helped  to  make  it  popular.  Certain  it 
is  that  alternantheras  owe  their  pop- 
ularity to  carpet  bedding.  Nothing 
troubles  the  alternanthera  but  cold 
weather.  They  are  all  tropical  plants, 
growing  freely  in  our  warm  summer 
months  but  only  just  existing  in  the 
greenhouse  during  winter  in  a  tem- 
perature of  60  degrees. 

They  are  propagated  by  divisions  or 
cuttings.  In  the  former  method  the 
plants  are  lifted  from  the  beds  after 
the  first  slight  frost,  and  after  their 
tops  are  shortened  and  trimmed  up 
they  are  stored  away  in  a  few  inches 
of  soil  in  flats.  After  the  first  good 
watering  they  are  best  kept  rather  dry 
till  the  following  April,  when  they  can 
be  torn  to  pieces  and  either  potted 
singly  or  again  planted  in  flats  and 
started  growing  in  a  warm,  light  house, 
or  what  is  better,  a  hot-bed.  Where 
very  large  quantities  are  needed  the 
old  plants  are  generally  depended  up- 
on. Where  only  a  few  thousand  are 
needed  I  prefer  the  cuttings. 

Prepare  some  flats  two  inches  deep 
and  any  convenient  size,  in  which  have 
one  inch  of  light  soil  and  one  inch  oi 
sand.  About  the  middle  of  August 
take  off  the  cuttings  from  the  plants 
outside  and  put  them  thickly  in  the 
sand.  In  a  few  days  in  the  greenhouse 
they  will  be  rooted  and  can  be  kept 
on  any  bench  or  stood  out  of  doors  till 
cold  weather  arrives.  In  the  flats  they 
will  winter  well  and  are  little  trouble. 
Keep  them  rather  dry  during  the  dark 
days  and  away  from  cold  and  damp. 
When  potted  off  in  April  and  placed  in 
a  hot-bed  they  make  splendid  little 
plants  by  bedding  out  time.  They  root 
and  thrive  like  the  proverbial  "weed" 
if  kept  warm. 

There  is  no  trouble  in  wintering  any 
of  them  except  the  one  that  is  the  most 
valuable,  which  is  known  in  many 
places  as  A.  paronychioides  major,  but 
which  I  feel  sure  is  A.  paronychioides 
magnifica,  which  is  much  the  highest 
colored  of  all.  In  elaborate  bedding 
room  is  found  for  most  of  the  culti- 
vated varieties.  If  you  cannot  give 
them  a  temperature  of  60  degrees  dur- 
ing winter  the  next  best  thing  is  to 
give  the  flats  a  light,  dry  position  and 


be  sparing  of  water  till  the  warm  days 
of  spring  arrive. 

The  most  useful  are  A.  paronychio- 
ides magnifica,  almost  scarlet  when 
well  colored,  but  not  such  a  robust 
grower  as  the  others;  A.  versicolor, 
bright  rosy  pink  and  bronze  green; 
A.  spathulata,  reddish  pink  and  brown 
shaded  with  bronze  and  green;  A.  am- 
abilis,  rose  color  and  orange;  A.  am- 
oena,  orange  red  and  purple;  A.  tri- 
color, dark  green  edge,  center  of  leaf 
rose  striped  with  purple  veins  and  or- 
ange; A.  paronychioides  aurea  nana, 
the  best  of  the  yellow  or  golden  leaved 
sorts. 

In  very  warm  rainy  seasons  they 
grow  so  fast  that  the  beautiful  mark- 
ings of  the  leaves  do  not  show  at  their 
best.  They  should  never  be  planted 
in  a  very  rich  soil.  Their  great  adapt- 
ability for  bedding  is  because  they  can 
be  sheared  to  any  sharp  line  and  can 
be  kept  very  dwarf. 

AMARANTHUS. 

Strong  growing  tropical  annuals 
having  feathery  spikes  of  flowers  and 
highly  colored  leaves.  They  are  very 
suitable  for  the  mixed  border  or  for 
large  sub-tropical  beds.  It  is  on  ac- 
count of  the  showy  markings  of  the 
leaves  that  they  are  mostly  grown. 
They  should  not  be  planted  out  till 
settled  warm  weather,  with  us  the  1st 
of  June,  but  they  grow  very  luxuri- 
antly in  the  warm  months.  They  re- 
quire deep,  rich  soil  to  obtain  the  best 
results. 

Sow  the  seed  the  latter  part  of 
March  in  pans  in  a  warm  house  and 
transplant  when  large  enough  to 
handle  into  flats,  placing  them  two 
or  three  inches  apart.  The  moist  heat 
of  a  hot-bed  suits  them  finely.  If  ex- 
tra good  plants  are  required  they  can 
be  shifted  from  the  flats  singly  into 
3-inch  pots,  and  nowhere  will  they  do 
so  well  as  in  a  hot-bed. 

A  few  of  the  handsomest  are:  bi- 
color,  foliage  green  and  yellow;  hypo- 
chondriacus,  large  spikes  of  crimson 
flowers;  salicifolius,  narrow  drooping 
leaves,  orange,  carmine  and  bronze; 
sanguineus,  blood  red  leaves;  tricolor, 
a  very  handsome  species  with  carmine 
and  yellow  leaves. 

AMARYLLIS. 

The  Belladona  Lily  is  the  true  ama- 
ryllis  and  the  fine  plants  generally 
known  as  amaryllis  are  really  hippe- 
astrums.  Several  other  genera  are 
closely  allied  and  as  their  cultivation 
is  the  same  the  cultural  directions 
here  given  will  include  hippeastrum, 
crinum  and  vallota.  They  are  bulbous 
but  not  herbaceous  although  resting 
partially  during  winter. 

They  seed  freely  and  if  sown  at  once 
and  the  young  plants  grown  on  in  a 
warm  house  and  rested  slightly  dur- 
ing the  winter,  will  flower  the  third 
year.  They  can  also  be  increased  by 
the  offsets  from  the  old  bulbs. 

If  you  obtain  the  dormant  bulbs 
start  them  in  a  little  bottom  heat, 
keeping  the  bulb  near  the  surface  of 
the  soil.  They  flower  when  making 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


17 


their  first  leaves  but  must  not  be  put 
away  and  neglected  or  stood  under  the 
bench  after  the  flower  .is  faded  for  it 
is  then  that  the  plant  makes  its  prin- 
cipal growth  and  stores  up  strength 
for  future  flowering.  Keep  them 
watered  and  growing  till  the  winter 
months,  but  as  they  are  not  decidu- 
ous, or  only  partially  so,  they  are  best 
in  a  light,  cool  house  and  with  an  oc- 
casional watering.  After  they  require 
a  7  or  8-inch  pot  they  need  not  be 
shifted  but  can  be  resurfaced  annu- 
ally. They  like  a  rich,  rather  heavy 
loam.  Few,  if  any,  of  our  greenhouse 
pests  trouble  them.  Being  all  tropi- 
cal, when  growing  they  must  have  a 
light,  warm  house  and  plenty  of 
moisture. 

The  amaryllis  flowers  in  July  and 
August,  the  hippeastrum  in  April  and 
May.  Though  hardly  a  florist's  plant 
they  are  gorgeous  flowers  for  the  con- 
servatory. 

AMPELOPSIS. 

Although  more  of  a  nurseryman's 
than  a  florist's  plant  there  is  one 
species  of  this  most  useful  genus  of 
hardy  climbers  that  enters  largely  in- 
to the  plant  man's  trade.  We  all 
handle,  and  some  of  us  largely,  that 
unrivalled  climber,  A.  tricuspidata,  so 
universally  known  as  A.  Veitchii.  It 
has  many  aliases  among  our  patrons, 
being  called  "Japan  ivy,"  "Boston 
ivy,"  etc.  For  the  covering  of  un- 
sightly walls,  stone  or  brick  barns, 
and  on  the  most  costly  mansions  if 
the  owner  chooses,  it  has  no  equal, 
needing  no  support  of  any  kind.  When 
first  climbing  in  its  early  years  it  as- 
sumes most  picturesque  forms,  but 
whether  it  is  good  taste  to  cover 
densely  the  whole  front  of  a  fine  house 
is  a  matter  that  must  be  left  to  the 
taste  of  the  owner. 

Though  making  but  a  moderate 
growth  the  first  two  years  it  is,  when 
well  established,  a  most  vigorous 
grower  and  it  climbs  to  the  roofs  of 
our  loftiest  houses.  There  is  a  fallacy 
about  its  growing  only  on  the  south 
and  east  aspects,  and  in  one  city  I 
heard  it  stated  that  it  did  best  on  the 
north  side.  It  will  grow  on  every  side 
of  a  house,  north  or  south,  but  should 
be  given  a  bushel  of  good  soil  for  a 
start,  and  in  exposed  places  some  lit- 
ter over  the  roots  the  first  year.  Mil- 
lions have  been  planted  in  the  resi- 
dence portions  of  our  cities  and  mil- 
lions more  are  yet  to  be  planted  as 
our  cities  spread  out.  It  is  not  a  suit- 
able climber  for  a  frame  house  for  the 
house  must  be  painted  and  that  set- 
tles the  vine  unless  you  are  content 
to  cut  it  down  and  begin  again  from 
the  ground. 

Propagation  is  by  cuttings  or  seed. 
The  cuttings  can  be  put  into  flats  and 
should  be  made  in  September  with 
two  or  three  eyes  of  the  current  year's 
growth.  A  light  loam  is  a  good  com- 
post for  the  cuttings  and  a  shaded 
bench  in  the  greenhouse  is  the  place. 
Or,  the  cuttings  can  be  put  at  once 
into  the  ground  in  a  cold-frame.  They 
should  be  wintered — whether  propa- 


gated inside  or  out — in  a  cold-frame 
and  planted  out  the  following  spring. 
We  have  raised  them  from  seed  for  a 
number  of  years  and  think  it  the 
cheapest  method.  Sow  the  seed  in 
March  thickly  in  flats,  covering  a 
quarter  inch  deep.  In  May  or  June 
pot  them  off  into  2-inch  pots  and 
when  there  are  benches  to  spare  shift 
into  a  4-inch  and  grow  them  on  all 
summer  inside,  giving  them  an  18- 
inch  stake.  In  September  stand  them 
outside  and  let  them  get  the  fall 
frosts  slowly.  I  mention  this  because 
I  have  seen  them  kept  indoors  till  Oc- 
tober, and  then  when  put  out  get  a 
severe  frost  that  would  kill  them  to 
the  ground.  A  deep  frame  with  the 
pots  plunged  is  the  best  place  to  win- 
ter them,  removing  the  glass  covering 


Jamaica  and  Queen  pine-apples,  some 
45  years  ago,  when  fruits  of  either 
of  those  fine  varieties  were  worth 
from  $5.00  to  $10.00  each.  That  was 
in  the  days  when  the  foreign  or  trop- 
ical grown  fruit  was  little  larger  than 
a  base  ball  and  about  as  tough.  Since 
then  the  cultivation  of  the  pine-apple 
has  been  skillfully  and  systematically 
taken  up  in  several  tropical  countries, 
perhaps  to  the  greatest  perfection  in 
the  Azores,  and  the  fruit  being  almost 
equal,  both  in  appearance  and  flavor, 
to  those  grown  under  glass,  the  indus- 
try is  no  longer  profitable  and  would 
be  out  of  the  province  of  this  chapter 
if  it  were. 

The  propagation  of  the  pine-apple 
is  by  suckers  which  start  freely  from 
the  base  of  the  stem.  They  should 
be  cleaned  off  and  a  small  portion  cut 


Variegated  Pineapple. 

(Ananas  Sativa  Variegata.) 


in  April  so  that  they  are  in  no  way 
forced.  These  plants  a  year  old  from 
the  seed  will  be  most  satisfactory  to 
sell  to  your  customers,  and  being  from 
pots  there  is  no  risk  of  losing  one. 
Some  readers  may  say  you  can  buy 
plants  cheaper  than  you  can  raise 
them.  By  the  above  method  you  will 
find  Ampelopsis  Veitchii  a  more  profit- 
able plant  than  many  others  you  grow. 
It  seems  to  thrive  in  any  soil  when 
once  established.  When  growing  it 
young  we  use  a  heavy  loam. 

ANANAS. 

The  beautiful  variegated  pine-apple 
is  the  variegated  form  of  the  pine-ap- 
ple that  is  grown  for  its  fruit,  Ananas 
sativa.  When  well  grown  there  is  no 
variegated  ornamental  plant  surpass- 
ing it  in  beauty. 

Pine-apples,  when  well  grown,  can 
be  fruited  in  two  years.  They  were 
once  a  great  feature  of  British  gar- 
dens. The  writer  has  helped  or 
watched  the  packing  of  tons  of  Black 


square  off  and  put  into  sandy  soil  in 
3-inch  pots  and  plunged  into  a  bed 
where  the  heat  of  the  house  is  not  less 
than  60  degrees  and  the  sand  or 
plunging  material  is  80  degrees.  Keep 
only  moderately  moist  till  rooted.  The 
suckers  appear  at  the  time  the  plant 
is  fruiting,  and  the  larger  the  suckers 
when  severed  from  the  old  plant,  the 
better. 

The  soil  best  suited  for  them  is  a 
good,  loamy  sod,  no't  too  finely  broken 
up.  If  heavy  add  sand  with  a  fifth  or 
sixth  of  leaf  mould  and  rotted  cow 
manure  in  equal  parts.  They  should 
at  all  times  be  firmly  potted.  To 
hasten  their  growth  they  should  be 
plunged  during  summer  in  a  light 
house  and  shaded  only  during  the  very 
hottest  hours  of  the  day.  If  the  g'.ass 
is  plate  and  there  is  no  danger  of 
burning  no  shade  is  needed.  Plenty 
of  water  should  be  given  in  summer 
but  the  plants  should  be  kept  rather 
on  the  dry  side  in  winter.  By  all 
means  avoid  a  stagnant,  wet  soil. 

This  plant  is  beautiful  at  all  stages 


18 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


of  its  growth,  and  is  particularly  at- 
tractive when  in  flower  and  fruit,  the 
latter  lasting  on  the  plant  several 
weeks. 

To  those  growing  them  largely  for 
the  trade  I  might  mention  an  item  in 
their  culture  which  may  or  may  not 
be  in  practice.  As  it  was  an  excellent 
plan  to  produce  a  plant  of  the  "green 
foliaged  fruiting  varieties  it  cannot 
but  be  good  with  the  variegated  vari- 
ety. It  was  to  plant  out  the  young 
rooted  suckers  from  the  3  or  4-inch 
pots  into  6  inches  of  good  compost  un- 
der glass  during  summer  and  lift  them 
in  the  fall  or  following  spring.  Where 
some  bottom  heat  can  be  given  to  the 


raking  the  surface  a  few  times,  stamp- 
ing down  with  the  rake. 

The  commercial  man  who  wants 
rows  of  these  annuals  should  always 
sow  in  drills.  For  small  seeds  the 
corner  of  the  rake  will  make  a  drill 
%  to  %  of  an  inch  deep.  After  sow- 
ing, hold  the  rake  in  a  perpendicular 
position  and  as  you  walk  along  beat 
the  surface  of  the  drill;  that  will 
sufficiently  cover  the  drill.  If  your 
ground  does  not  bake  after  a  water- 
ing you  can  water  the  drills.  If  it 
does  bake,  as  is  usually  the  case,  it  is 
better  to  trust  to  the  spring  rains. 

When  any  of  these  summer  annuals 


Anthurium  Flowers. 


Anthuriums. 


A.  Crystallinum. 


bed  they  will  make  as  much  growth 
in  six  months  planted  out  as  they  will 
in  twelve  months  grown  in  pots. 

ANGRAECUM. 
See  Orchids. 

ANNUALS. 

The  title  "Hardy  annual"  as  applied 
to  many  of  our  summer  flowering 
plants  is  a  misnomer,  for  those  that 
can  be  sown  out  of  doors  and  come  to 
perfection  before  frost  touches  them 
are  very  few.  Many  plants  that  are 
perennials  we  treat  as  annuals,  grow- 
ing them  but  one  year  and  finding  it 
most  profitable  to  raise  a  new  crop 
from  seed  each  year;  primula,  cinera- 
ria, etc. 

The  few  annuals  that  can  be  sown 
out  of  doors,  such  as  candytuft,  mig- 
nonette, poppy,  eschscholtzia,  etc., 
should  be  sown  as  soon  as  possible 
after  the  ground  is  dry  enough  to 
work.  For  the  ornamental  garden 
these  are  best  sown  in  small  patches, 
say  eighteen  inches  across.  Level  and 
make  fine  the  surface  of  the  soil,  sow 
thinly  and  cover  the  seed  by  finely 


are  grown  for  cutting  flowers  from, 
always  sow  in  drills  15  or  18  inches 
apart  so  the  hand  cultivator  can  be 
used,  as  it  saves  much  labor. 

For  the  cultivation  of  all  annuals 
needing  the  help  of  the  greenhouse  or 
frame,  see  Aster. 

ANTHERICUM. 

The  variegated  species,  A.  varie- 
gatum,  is  a  very  useful  plant,  used 
largely  for  the  margins  of  beds,  also 
for  veranda  boxes  and  vases.  It  stands 
our  hottest  suns,  and  is  as  well  a  very 
desirable  plant  for  the  window. 

Plants  lifted  from  the  ground  and 
potted  can  during  the  winter  be  di- 
vided. Or  a  few  plants  lifted  and  al- 
lowed to  send  up  their  long  flower 
spikes  will  supply  any  number  of 
young  plants  which  spring  from  the 
flower  stalk  and  these  can  be  taken  off 
and  put  in  the  sand,  soon  rooting 
and  making  plants.  It  is  a  very  easy 
plant  to  grow  in  any  soil,  but  to  have 
good,  useful  plants  in  spring  it  should 
have  a  light  house,  pot  room  and 
plenty  of  water. 


ANTHURIUM. 

Remarkable  plants  that  are  grown 
for  their  curious  flowers  as  well  as 
their  fine  leaves.  The  flowers  are 
often  used  in  combination  with  or- 
chids. Their  cultivation  is  very  simi- 
lar to  that  of  many  of  the  orchids. 
Whoever  grows  a  few  of  the  lat- 
ter should  grow  A.  Scherzerianum. 
The  flowers  of  this  well  known  species 
last  in  perfection  two  or  three  months. 

They  are  from  the  West  Indies, 
Central  and  South  America.  A  moist, 
hot  atmosphere  suits  them  and  they 
require  an  abundance  of  water  in 
spring  and  summer.  In  the  dark,  cold 
weather  less  water  is  needed  but  the 
temperature  should  not  go  below  65 
degrees  at  any  time.  The  compost 
for  potting  them  should  be  about  like 
that  suited  to  our  terrestrial  orchids: 
equal  parts  of  peat,  turfy  loam,  fresh 
sphagnum,  broken  charcoal  (not 
powdered)  or  broken  crocks.  Fill  the 
pot  one-third  full  of  clean  broken 
crocks  and  then  distribute  the  roots 
carefully  among  the  compost,  keeping 
the  crown  of  the  plant  two  or  three 
inches  above  the  rim  of  the  pot,  and 
cover  the  surface  with  fresh  sphag- 
num. 

There  are  a  great  number  of  species, 
all  beautiful  and  curious  and  worthy 
of  a  place  in  every  collection  of  hot- 
house plants.  A.  Andreanum  and  A. 
Scherzerianum  are  grand  sorts  for 
cutting. 

ANTIRRHINUM. 

Some  very  useful  strains  of  the  com- 
mon A.  majus  (the  Snapdragon)  are 
now  used  for  forcing.  To  get  them 
true  to  color  they  must  be  propagated 
by  cuttings.  Plants  struck  early  in 
the  spring  and  kept  from  flowering- 
can  be  planted  out  in  September  on 
the  bench  in  5  or  6  inches  of  good 
soil.  A  temperature  of  50  degrees  at 
night  will  suit  them  very  well.  They 
continue  to  bloom  throughout  the 
winter,  and  as  a  novelty  the  flowers 
are  valuable.  The  white  and  yellow 
colors  are  most  in  demand. 

As  a  border  plant,  see  Hardy  Peren- 
nials. 

APONOGETON  DISTACHYON. 

A  few  flowers  of  this  beautiful  plant 
occasionally  appear  as  a  novelty  in  the 
windows  of  some  of  the  best  flower 
stores.  It  is  certainly  a  novelty,  too, 
in  the  cut  flower  market,  though  far 
otherwise  as  a  cultivated  plant,  having 
been  in  cultivation  for  more  than  100 
years.  It  was  introduced  to  Europe 
from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  last  century  and  has 
become  so  completely  naturalized 
upon  some  lakes  and  streams  as  to  ap- 
pear like  a  native  so  great  is  its  lux- 
uriance. 

Doubtless  much  might  be  done  with 
it  in  American  waters  in  southern  lat- 
itudes, but  the  present  object  of  this 
note  is  to  advise  those  who  have  the 
facilities  to  give  it  a  little  attention 
under  glass  for  winter  flowering,  and 
small  indeed  are  its  cultural  needs. 
Grown  under  glass  it  would  be  an 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Aponogeton  Distachon. 


ever-blooming  plant  as  in  outside  wa- 
ters it  flowers  persistently  till  forced 
to  a  reluctant  rest  by  the  freezing  of 
the  water. 

I  have  gathered  flowers  of  it  in  mid- 
winter when  that  season  has  been  un- 
usually mild,  so  that  no  forcing  condi- 
tions are  necessary  under  glass  to  en- 
sure flowers  in  abundance  during  win- 
ter months.  Tanks,  tubs,  or  any  re- 
ceptacle of  sufficient  size  and  conve- 
nience could  be  utilized  for  its  cultiva- 
tion, placing  in  the  bottom  of 
them  about  a  foot  of  compost 
consisting  of  loam  and  well  rotted 
cow  manure  in  proportions  of  about  3 
to  1.  The  temperatures  at  which  rose 
and  carnation  houses  are  kept  will 
suit  admirably  and  like  these  the  apo- 
nogeton  will  enjoy  all  the  sun  it  can 
get.  As  far  as  my  observation  goes  of 
the  plant  under  natural  conditions  it 
always  appeared  to  thrive  best  and 
flower  most  abundantly  along  the  mar- 
gins of  running  water  or  in  lakes 
through  which  there  was  a  constant 
flow.  This  would  indicate  that  it 
likes  a  change  of  water  more  or  less 
frequently,  conditions  that  can  be  met 
under  cultivation  by  turning  the  hose 
into  its  tank  or  tub  occasionally.  The 
plant  has  a  fleshy  tuberous  root,  broad 
and  flat  at  its  apex,  narrowing  to  al- 
most a  point  at  its  base  and  from  the 
crown  of  this  tuber  it  sends  out  long 
roots  in  the  soil  surrounding,  whilst 


the  leaves  and  flower  stalks  find  their 
way  to  the  surface,  each  stalk  ter- 
minated by  an  oblong  leaf  that  floats 
on  the  water. 

The  flowers  are  borne  on  a  forked 
spike  (hence  the  name  distachyon, 
meaning  two  spiked),  are  small  and 
inconspicuous  in  themselves,  but  they 
are  disposed  in  clusters  in  the  axils  of 
large  showy  white  bracts.  These  bracts 
give  the  spike  its  color  attractiveness, 
but  the  flowers  have  also  a  welcome 
charm  in  that  they  possess  a  delight- 
ful fragrance  so  sweet  as  to  have  earn- 
ed for  the  plant  the  name  "Water 
Hawthorn."  The  Cape  Pond  weed  is 
another  popular  name  for  ft  and  it 
matters  not  which  is  used,  either  being 
greatly  preferable  to  its  botanical  cog- 
nomen, and  should  be  used  by  those 
who  would  popularize  the  plant  and 
sell  its  flowers. 

When  once  the  plant  is  strongly  es- 
tablished it  spreads  freely  by  root  in- 
crease and  also  reproduces  itself  from 
its  own  self-sown  seed.  Dry  roots  are 
also  obtainable  at  times,  these  being 
imported  from  the  Cape.  The  beginner 
with  dry  roots,  however,  must  exer- 
cise caution  in  starting  his  plants,  oth- 
erwise he  may  lose  the  lot.  When  the 
dormant  tubers  are  potted  up  they  are 
dry  and  more  or  less  shrivelled.  If 
then  introduced  to  aquatic  conditions 
there  is  a  risk  of  the  root  tissues 
swelling  too  rapidly  and  rotting  in 


consequence.  It  is  better  for  a  start 
to  treat  them  as  ordinary  plants, 
planting  the  tuber,  with  its  crown 
just  covered  in  a  pot  of  soil.  It  will 
then  absorb  moisture  gradually,  swell 
normally  and  when  top  growth  is  visi- 
ble and  well  under  way  the  plants 
may  be  immersed  with  safety.  When 
new  plantations  are  being  established 
with  divisions  from  growing  plants 
no  such  precautions  are  necessary; 
these  can  be  planted  direct  into  other 
tubs  or  tanks. 

AQUATICS. 

These  beautiful  plants  that  are 
grown  in  the  water  garden  are  receiv- 
ing more  attention  every  year.  Those 
who  have  never  seen  the  two  or  three 
acres  of  lily  ponds  at  Riverton,  N.  J., 
on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  in  the 
nurseries  of  the  Henry  A.  Dreer  Com- 
pany, can  have  no  idea  of  the  beauty 
of  the  nymphaea.  A  few  plants  of  dif- 
ferent varieties  give  no  idea  of  their 
beauty  as  compared  with  scores  of  lit- 
tle oblong  ponds  separated  by  fine 
walks  of  grass  and  each  filled  with  one 
species  or  variety  of  nymphaea. 

In  a  botanical  garden  or  park  or 
private  grounds  the  pond  of  aquatics 
will  always  attract  the  visitors  and  re- 
ceive general  attention.  Not,  I  believe, 
wholly  on  account  of  their  rarity,  but 
largely  for  their  beauty.  And  what 
can  be  more  beautiful  and  refreshing 
than  the  broad  leaves  so  placidly  rest- 
ing on  the  surface  and  the  pool  lighted 
up  with  the  exquisite  forms  and  colors 
of  the  flowers?  Nearly  every  shade  is 
there,  but  in  no  gaudy  or  blending 
colors.  The  yellows  and  pinks  and 
blues  and  whites  are  of  the  purest  and 
most  pleasing  shades.  When  the  day 
flowering  species  want  to  close  their 
petals  (we  will  suppose  in  sleep),  the 
evening  and  night  flowering  ones  take 
their  place. 

Nymphaea. 

Where  and  when  the  nymphaeas  can 
be  used  as  cut  flowers  for  a  vase  or 
table  decoration  nothing  can  surpass 
them  in  elegance.  The  day  flowering 
species  are,  however,  available  for  use 
only  in  the  day  time,  unless  some 
trouble  is  gone  to.  Prof.  J.  F.  Coweil 
of  our  Buffalo  Botanical  Garden,  in 
forms  me  that  he  is  aware  of  a  method 
by  which  the  beautiful  day  flowering 
N.  zanzibarensis  and  its  varieties  can 
be  utilized  for  evening  decoration.  It 
may  not  be  generally  known,  but  has 
been  thoroughly  tested.  Cut  the  flow- 
ers in  the  morning,  when  at  their  very 
best,  and  put  the  stems  at  once  in  ice 
water.  This  seems  to  arrest  their 
growth  and  prevent  change  either  way. 
To  use  a  rather  awkward  expression,  it 
paralyzes  them,  and  providing  you 
keep  the  temperature  close  to  the 
freezing  point,  the  flowers  will  remain 
open  throughout  the  night.  The  first 
experiment  was  made  by  scooping  out 
a  hole  in  a  block  of  ice,  within  which 
the  stems  of  the  lilies  were  put  with 
water,  and  there  they  remained  till  12 
o'clock  at  night,  fully  expanded. 

To  those  who  intend  investing  large- 


20 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ly  in  aquatics,  especially  nymphaeas, 
the  handsome  work  by  Mr.  William 
Tricker,  "The  Water  Garden,"  will  be 
found  of  great  assistance. 

New  hybrid  nymphaeas  are  being 
constantly  stnt  out,  all  of  great  beauty, 
but  those  described  here  will  be  found, 
both  in  variety  of  color  and  in  freedom 
of  bloom,  to  be  among  the  best. 

The  same  general  treatment  will  suit 
all.  The  hardy  species  can  be  left  out 
all  winter  and  will  take  care  of  them- 
selves. The  tender  ones,  among  which 
are  some  of  the  finest,  must  be  lifted 
after  the  first  frost  and  their  roots  re- 
moved to  the  greenhouse.  The  roots 
can  be  placed  in  boxes  or  pots  and 
covered  with  loam,  which  should  be 
kept  continually  moist;  in  fact,  as  near 
the  consistency  of  mud  as  possible,  as 
that  would  be  their  natural  state.  The 
roots  of  all  the  nymphaeas  are  tube- 
rous and  they  do  not  easily  perish, 
providing  they  are  not  frozen  or  al- 
lowed to  get  too  dry. 

The  nymphaeas  are  easily  raised 
from  seed,  which  can  be  sown  in  Janu- 
ary or  February  in  4-inch  pots  of  loam, 
keeping  the  pots  a  few  inches  under 
water  in  a  tank  in  the  greenhouse. 

The  hardy-  species  can  be  placed  in 
the  pond  by  the  middle  of  May,  the 
tender  kinds  two  weeks  later.  Those 
who  have  not  the  conveniences  for 
raising  the  young  plants  can  obtain 
strong  plants  for  the  specialist  at  a 
moderate  cost.  If  the  pond  or  pool  has 
a  naturally  good  soil  at  the  bottom, 
less  preparation  is  needed;  but  if,  as 
is  often  the  case,  the  pool  or  tank  is 
made  of  cement  or  puddled  with  clay, 
then  eighteen  inches  of  rich  soil  must 
be  placed  over  the  clay  or  cement. 
Three  parts  good  loam  and  one  part 
cow  manure  will  be  a  good  compost, 
and  you  even  can  with  advantage  add 
a  pound  of  bone  meal  to  every  bushel 
of  compost.  They  are  sometimes  grown 
in  large  boxes,  which  are  placed  in  the 
tank,  but  this  is  not  the  way  to  get 
fine  flowers.  You  would  not  think  of 
growing  cannas  in  pots  to  produce  the 
finest  foliage  and  flowers,  and  growing 
nymphaeas  in  tubs  or  boxes  is  as  un- 
desirable. 

The  water  need  not  be  over  eighteen 
inches  to  two  feet  above  the  soil,  but 
the  hardy  species  which  are  to  remain 
out  all  winter  should  be  sufficiently  be- 
low the  surface  so  that  the  soil  does 
not  freeze.  A  foot  or  two  of  ice  can 
be  above  the  plant,  but  the  soil  should 
not  freeze.  You  will  find  that  many  of 
the  hardy  kinds  seed  themselves,  and 
you  will  have  an  abundance  of  stock. 
No  trees  or  shade  of  any  kind  should 
be  allowed,  as  the  nymphaeas  delight 
in  the  broad  sun.  Finally,  the  secret 
of  growing  fine  plants  with  an  abun- 
dance of  fine  flowers  is  a  good  depth 
of  loam,  to  which  has  been  added  a 
liberal  allowance  of  animal  manure. 

Those  enumerated  below  are  among 
the  finest: 

N.  zanzibarensis:  Purple,  day  flow- 
ering, ten  inches  in  diameter. 

N.  zanzibarensis  rosea:  Rose  color, 
day  flowering,  ten  inches  in  diameter. 


N.  zanzibarensis  gigantea:  Blue,  day 
flowering,  twelve  inches  in  diameter. 

N.  Devoniensis:  Rosy  red,  night 
blooming,  eight  inches  in  diameter. 

Of  the  hardy  nymphaeas,  among  the 
most  useful  are: 

N.  alba  candidissima:   White. 

N.  Laydekeri  rosea:    Beautiful  rose. 

N.  Marliacea  chromatella:  Yellow, 
very  hardy  and  free  flowering. 

N.  Marliacea  rosea:     Very  fine  pink. 

N.  odorata:  White,  slightly  tinted, 
very  fragrant. 

N.  odorata  rosea:  Beautiful  rose; 
the  Cape  Cod  pink  water  lily. 

N.  tuberosa:  Our  common  western 
white  water  lily. 

N.  tuberosa  rosea:  A  fine  form;  one 
of  the  best  of  all,  and  fragrant. 

Nelumbium. 

This  stately  aquatic  is  now  general- 
ly known  and  largely  grown.  N.  spe- 
ciosum,  often  called  the  Egyptian  Lo- 
tus, will  do  in  any  pond  where  the 
roots  do  not  freeze  and  has  taken  pos- 
session of  some  of  the  smaller  lakes  of 
Indiana.  The  large  peltate  leaves  rise 
above  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  the 
beautiful  rosy  pink  flowers  are  borne 
on  long  stalks  above  the  leaves.  They 
have  the  appearance  of  very  large 
double  tulips. 

The  plants  need  the  same  general 
treatment  as  the  hardy  nymphaeas, 
and  the  compost  can  not  be  made  too 
rich.  One  authority  says  they  like  to 
root  into  a  stiff  clay.  If  the  bottom 
of  your  tank  or  pond  is  out  of  reach  of 
frost,  leave  them  there  all  winter.  If 
not,  lift  the  roots  and  keep  in  moist 
soil  till  spring. 

There  are  now  several  varieties  of  N. 
speciosum.  N.  luteum  is  a  native  of 
our  southern  states  and  has  very  large 
yellow  flowers. 

Other  Aquatics. 

To  accompany  the  nymphaeas  and 
nelumbiums  in  the  artificial  lake  or 
water  garden,  and  of  smaller  growth, 
you  can  have  the  following: 

Eichhornia  crassipes  major:  Often 
called  the  Water  Hyacinth.  They 
spread  rapidly  and  float  without  the 
roots  being  in  any  soil.  Some  of  them 
must  be  removed  to  tubs  of  water  in 
the  greenhouse  during  winter  to  fur- 
nish a  supply  for  the  following  season. 
This  curious  little  aquatic  is  also 
known  as  Pontederia. 

Limnanthemum:  In  appearance  a 
miniature  water  lily  with  a  pretty 
white  flower. 

Limnocharis  Humboldtii:  Yellow, 
poppy-like  flowers.  Good  for  the  mar- 
gins of  ponds,  but  inclined  to  become  a 
weed. 

Papyrus  (or  Cyperus)  alternifolius: 
This  is  well  known  and'  much  culti- 
vated in  our  greenhouses.  It  also 
makes  a  good  aquatic  for  small  ponds. 

Papyrus  antiquorum:  The  papyrus 
of  the  ancients,  from  which  they  made 
their  writing  paper.  It  is  sometimes 
called  the  Egyptian  bulrush.  It  has 
long,  straight  stems  growing  seven  or 
eight  feet  high  and  is  very  striking  in 


appearance.  Both  this  and  alternifo- 
lius must  be  removed  to  the  green- 
house before  danger  of  frost. 

Acorus  japonicus:  The  variegated 
sweet  flag. 

Pontederia  peltandra  virginica: 
Greenish,  calla-like  flowers;  hardy. 

Calla  palustris:  A  native,  hardy- 
plant. 

Perhaps  none  of  the  above  is  of  com- 
mercial value,  except  the  nymphaeas, 
but  if  asked  to  stock  a  lily  pond  those 
noted  will  be  found  to  be  among  the 
best,  easily  obtainable  and  good,  free 
growers. 

ARAUCARIA. 

Of  this  noble  genus  of  conifers  A. 
excelsa  is  the  only  one  of  commercial 
value  to  us.  A.  imbricata  is  a  hardy 
tree  in  England  and  when  20  to  30 
feet  high,  with  branches  sweeping  the 
grass,  its  symmetry  is  matchless.  It 
is  not,  however,  hardy  here  and  does 
not  make  a  useful  plant  for  the  green- 
house. 

A.  excelsa  is  called  the  Norfolk  Is- 
land Pine,  being  a  native  of  that  fai- 
away  island.  It  will  endure  a  very 
cool  temperature,  but  not  freezing. 
The  plants  are  imported  in  large  quan- 
tities from  Europe.  When  ordering 
see  that  you  are  promised  plants  from 
cuttings.  They  are  readily  raised  from 
seed  but  never  make  as  fine  plants  as 
those  from  cuttings,  the  lower  branch- 
es being  always  snorter  and  weaker, 
spoiling  the  symmetry  of  the  plant. 
They  are  propagated  from  the  leading 
shoots  of  the  tops  and  branches  in- 
serted in  sand,  kept  moderately  moist, 
and  covered  with  a  hand-glass  or 
frame  till  rooted. 

The  plants  usually  arrive  in  this 
country  in  excellent  order,  soon  re- 
covering from  the  journey  and  start- 
ing to  grow.  I  have  had  the  best  suc- 
cess importing  in  the  spring,  the 
plants  reaching  here  in  May.  You  can 
then  grow  them  on  during  summer  and 
have  well  established  plants  for  winter 
trade.  Any  good,  fresh  loam  lightened 
up  with  a  fifth  or  sixth  of  leaf-mould 
or  very  rotten  manure  will  suit  the 
araucaria.  They  will  thriye  during 
summer  out  of  doors  in  the  broad  sun, 
but  will  lose  color,  and  are  best  under 
glass  with  a  slight  shade  and  all  the 
ventilation  that  you  can  give  them. 
They  want  a  uniform  and  moderate 
amount  of  water  the  year  around.  In 
the  winter  months  50  degrees  is  suffi- 
ciently warm. 

The  araucaria  is  not  only  the  most 
graceful  small  tree  we  have  but  is 
very  satisfactory  for  house  culture 
when  given  a  light  window.  Your 
customers  should  be  told  to  keep  them 
as  light  and  cool  as  possible. 

The  forms  of  A.  excelsa  known  as 
glauca  and  compacta  are  more  ex- 
pensive but  are  improvements  on  the 
type. 

ARDISIA. 

Dwarf,  hard-wooded  trees  that 
flower  and  fruit  when  quite  small; 
the  best  of  the  berried  plants,  surpas- 
sing the  solanunis,  being  more  com- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Araucaria  Excelsa. 


pact,  with  better  colored  leaves,  and 
densely  covered  with  their  berries. 

A.  crenulata  is  the  best  known  and 
most  useful.  They  can  be  propagated 
by  cuttings  of  the  half-ripened  wood 
in  April  and  May,  but  are  more  easily 
raised  from  seed.  Sow  the  seed  as 
soon  as  ripe  in  a  temperature  of  60 
degrees.  Be  careful  in  transplanting 
into  pots  not  to  let  the  plants  wilt 
from  drought  or  sun.  Grow  them  on 
in  a  light  house  and  shift  as  they  re- 
quire it.  The  following  spring  they 
can  be  given  their  flowering,  or  rath- 
er fruiting,  pot,  and  plunge  on  a  light 
bench  in  the  greenhouse. 

June  is  the  flowering  time.  When 
the  fruit  is  set  they  can  be  plunged 
out  of  doors  in  the  summer  months. 
A  temperature  of  50  degrees  at  night 
will  suit  them  very  well  during  winter 
and  the  berries  will  last  longer  than 
if  kept  in  a  warmer  house.  When 
growing  they  want  a  warm,  moist 
heat.  They  are  easily  kept  shapely  by 
pruning  before  they  make  their  growth 
in  the  spring. 

They  are  particularly  valuable  as 
ornamental  plants  because  the  pretty 
red  berries  are  at  their  best  in  the 
winter  months  and  small  plants  from 


one  to  two  feet,  are  the  most  useful. 
Some  growers  put  the  young  plants 
into  the  open  ground  from  the  2-inch 
pots  in  June,  and  they  make  larger 
plants  than  those  kept  in  pots. 

ARISTOLOCHIA. 

Nearly  all  hot-house  climbers,  seve- 
ral of  them  having  most  curious  and 
remarkable  flowers.  They  are  best 
planted  out  in  the  houses  where  they 
grow  freely.  They  are,  however,  of  lit- 
tle value  commercially,  except  the 
hardy  species,  A.  Sipho,  the  familiar 
"Dutchman's  Pipe,"  which  is  one  of 
the  handsomest  of  vines.  For  cover- 
ing a  veranda,  summer  house  or  trel- 
lis it  is  admirably  suited.  Its  peculiar- 
ly formed  little  flower,  from  which 
it  takes  its  familiar  name,  is  incon- 
spicuous, being  overshadowed  by  its 
large  leaves. 

You  are  constantly  asked  for  a  good 
hardy  vine.  Few  plants  are  better 
than  Aristolochia  Sipho.  It  needs  some 
support  to  twine  and  twist  around.  It 
is  easily  propagated  from  cuttings  but 
if  you  are  not  in  the  nursery  business 
you  had  better  leave  that  to  the  nur- 
seryman, who  will  supply  you  with 


strong  plants  at  a  price  that  will  en- 
able you  to  make  a  good  profit. 

A.  Sipho  thrives  in  any  good  garden 
soil.  As  a  curiosity  A.  gigas  is  the 
most  remarkable  but  it  is  not  hand- 
some and  has  anything  but  a  pleasing 
fragrance. 

ASPARAGUS. 

Of  this  genus  there  are  three  or  four 
species  that  are  very  useful  and  orna- 
mental plants.  The  one  having  the 
greatest  commercial  value  is  A.  plu- 
mosus.  There  seems  to  be  some  con- 
fusion about  the  name  of  this  species, 
or  there  are  two  varieties.  English 
catalogues  make  a  distinction  and  call 
one  variety  A.  plumosus  nanus.  With 
us  the  one  that  was  actually  dwarf  has 
been  lost  track  of  and  the  one  that 
grows  twenty  feet  high  is  still  called 
nanus.  This  is  evidently  a  misnomer. 

Seed  can  be  sown  at  any  time.  Sow 
in  flats  and  cover  with  an  eighth  of 
an  inch  of  leaf-mould  or  sifted  Jadoo 
and  keep  on  a  bench  where  the  heat 
is  not  less  than  60  degrees  at  night.  It 
is  well  to  be  particular  as  to  the 
source  from  which  you  get  the  seed. 
Imported  seed  frequently  germinates 
poorly,  but  the  home  grown  seed 
comes  freely.  We  pot  the  seedlings 
into  2-inch  pots,  and  if  intended  to 
plant  in  a  permanent  bed  we  first 
shift  again  into  a  4-inch.  A  good, 
warm  house  suits  it  when  young,  but 
not  a  close,  heavily  shaded  one. 

An  asparagus  bed  for  the  produc- 
tion of  long  strings  should  be  on  the 
ground.  My  own  experience  has  given 
me  a  lesson  on  this  point,  and  to  use 
the  words  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Elliott, 
Brighton,  Mass.,  our  largest  grower  of 
this  asparagus,  "It  should  never  be 
divorced  from  mother  earth."  One  foot 
of  soil  on  the  floor  of  a  lofty  house 
will  grow  it  for  many  years.  Like  all 
its  family  it  flourishes  best  in  rich 
soil;  a  good,  heavy  loam  with  a  fourth 
or  fifth  of  cow  manure  is  the  best 
compost  for  it,  and  in  addition  put  a 
good  dressing  on  the  surface  of  the 
bed  every  midsummer.  Although  the 
same  bed  will  last  indefinitely  I  think 
it  more  profitable  to  renew  the  bed 
every  three  or  four  years.  The  roof 
of  the  house  should  be  at  least  ten 
feet  above  the  surface  of  the  bed  or 
you  will  not  get  the  full  benefit  of  the 
growth.  Specialists  like  Mr.  Elliott 
have  houses  twice  that  height. 

It  is  not  only  the  long  strings  that 
are  used.  The  short  sprays  are  in 
great  demand  for  mixing  with  cut 
flowers,  particularly  bunches  of  roses. 
While  many  short  sprays  can  be  cut 
from  the  planted  beds,  many  plants 
are  grown  on  side  benches  in  six 
inches  of  soil  or  in  6  or  8-inch  pots 
with  the  view  of  producing  sprays 
only.  The  plants  will,  if  vigorous, 
throw  up  the  long  running  shoots,  but 
by  nipping  off  the  tops  of  the  shoots 
when  18  to  24  inches  long  the  produc- 
tion of  branchlets  is  stimulated. 

We  have  found  small  plants  of  A. 
plumosus  very  useful  for  fern  dishes, 
outlasting  any  of  the  ferns.  For  this 
purpose  the  plants  are  best  kept  in 


22 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


3-inch  pots,  though  for  large  arrange- 
ments of  flowers  and  foliage  bushy 
plants  in  4-inch  pots  are  most  use- 
ful. 

A.  tenuissimus  needs  precisely  the 
same  treatment  as  A.  plumosus,  but 
it  is  not  such  a  general  favorite.  Its 
very  finely  divided,  graceful  branch- 
lets  are,  however,  preferred  by  some 
above  A.  plumosus. 

A.  Sprengeri  is  a  more  recent  intro- 
duction and  comes  from  Abyssinia 
(the  other  species  are  from  South 
Africa).  It  is  a  strong  grower,  form- 


little  of  the  grace  and  fineness  of  plu- 
mosus and  tenuissimus  it  is  for  cer- 
tain purposes  their  superior,  and 
when  the  sprays  are  matured  their 
lasting  qualities  are  equal  to  the  well 
known  durability  of  plumosus.  To 
grow  good  sprays  (and  it  can  be 
grown  five  or  six  feet,  and  perhaps 
longer)  you  should  give  it  the  middle 
of  a  house  where  the  winter  tempera- 
ture is  55  to  60  degrees.  Plant  fifteen 
inches  apart  in  boxes  as  long  as  the 
width  of  the  house  between  walks. 
Let  the  boxes  be  twelve  inches  wide 


Asparagus  Plumosus. 


ing  a  large  clump  of  roots  and  crowns 
from  which  it  sends  out  long,  strong 
shoots  covered  on  all  sides  with  fine 
branchlets.  In  older  plants  there  is  an 
inclination  to  run  up  strong  shoots 
which  may  climb,  but  the  value  and 
beauty  of  the  plant  is  in  the  long, 
pendent  growths.  It  is  a  strong  feed- 
er and  requires  an  abundance  of  water 
and  will  grow  and  keep  its  color  in 
the  full  sun;  only  from  our  hottest 
suns  should  it  receive  any  artificial 
shading. 

It  is  easily  raised  from  seed  which 
is  best  sown  in  early  spring.  By  the 
following  winter  the  plants  will  give 
fine  sprays.  For  hanging  baskets  it 
has  scarcely  a  rival,  either  for  the 
conservatory,  the  veranda  or  parlor 
window.  The  magnificent  baskets  that 
remain  in  good  condition  while  hang- 
ing for  months  in  a  florist's  window 
are  evidence  of  its  great  adaptability 
to  unfavorable  surroundings.  Three 
small  plants  put  in  a  10-inch  basket 
in  July  or  August  will  make  fine  orna- 
mental baskets  for  winter,  most  use- 
ful for  decoration  or  to  sell  at  a  good 
profit.  While  the  Sprengeri  lacks  a 


and  eight  inches  deep.  Raise  the 
boxes  three  feet  from  the  ground  by 
some  convenient  means  and  keep  them 
three  feet  apart.  This  will  allow  the 
sprays  plenty  of  room  to  develop  with- 
out getting  dirty  from  the  sand  or  soil 
of  a  bench.  Small,  well  grown  plants 
in  4-inch  pots  should  be  always  in 
stock;  for  mantel  decorations  they  are 
invaluable. 

None  of  our  well  known  green- 
house pests  trouble  the  asparagus  if  it 
is  given  plenty  of  syringing  and  water. 
A  rather  heavy  loam  with  a  liberal  ad- 
dition of  animal  manure  is  all  it 
wants. 

ASPIDISTRA. 

The  species  lurida  and  its  variegat- 
ed form  are  known  to  every  cultivator 
of  plants.  It  will  bear  more  gas,  heat 
and  dust  than  most  any  other  plant 
we  grow.  They  are  invaluable  for 
vases  in  the  cities,  not  only  on  the 
streets  in  summer  time  but  in  the 
rooms  in  winter.  No  one  can  fail  to 
grow  an  aspidistra,  and  a  fine  speci- 
men of  either  the  green  or  the  striped, 
with  its  leaves  occasionally  sponged, 


is  a  handsome  object.  It  thrives  in  the 
most  sunny  and  exposed  places,  or  in 
the  shade.  The  flowers  are  curious  but 
of  no  value  and  in  many  cases  pass 
unobserved  for  they  are  close  to  the 
ground  at  the  base  of  the  leaf. 

They  are  propagated  entirely  by  di- 
vision, or  rather  by  the  young  plants 
that  spring  from  the  sides  of  the  older 
plants.  Any  good  loam  with  the  addi- 
tion of  some  rotten  manure  will  grow 
them,  and  they  should  have  plenty  of 
water  at  all  times. 

Old  and  familiar  as  this  plant  is 
there  is  never  an  over  supply  of  it  for 
it  is  not  rapidly  increased.  It  is  now 
largely  imported  from  Belgium  and 
the  plants  are  sold  by  the  hundred 
leaves. 

ASPLENIUM. 

The  spleenworts,  as  the  asplenium 
genus  has  been  termed  (from  the  sup- 
posed medicinal  value  that  ancient 
practitioners  believed  them  to  pos- 
sess), form  one  of  the  largest  fern 
groups  in  cultivation,  over  300  species 
having  been  described,  though  it  is 
rather  doubtful  if  this  whole  number  is 
at  the  present  time  in  cultivation. 

As  may  be  expected  in  so  large  a 
genus,  the  aspleniums  are  very  widely 
distributed,  and  in  consequence  we  find 
among  them  species  requiring  warm 
house  treatment,  others  that  need  com- 
paratively little  heat,  and  a  few  that 
are  quite  hardy  in  our  northern  and 
eastern  states,  there  being  more  than 
half  a  dozen  species  that  are  native 
here. 

The  subject  of  our  illustration,  A. 
bulbiferum,  belongs  to  the  second  di- 
vision, or  those  that  require  only 
moderate  heat,  and  though  in  com- 
merce for  many  years,  is  by  no  means 
so  plentiful  as  its  merits  would  jus- 
tify. A.  bulbiferum  is  an  evergreen 
fern  from  New  Zealand,  the  home  of 
many  of  our  finest  ferns,  and  has  fine- 
ly divided  fronds  of  nearly  triangular 
outline,  these  fronds  reaching  a  length 
of  nearly  two  feet  in  a  good  specimen, 
and  being  nearly  one  foot  in  breadth  at 
the  widest  part.  The  plant  has  a 
gracefully  drooping  habit,  this  being 
accentuated  by  the  weight  of  the  nu- 
merous tiny  young  plants  that  fre- 
quently form  on  the  upper  side  of  the 
fronds. 

This  proliferous  habit  is  found  in 
several  of  the  aspleniums,  but  is  per- 
haps most  marked  in  the  species  un- 
der consideration,  the  fronds  often  be- 
ing studded  over  with  young  plants 
that  are  just  showing  their  first  leaf. 
This  peculiarity  is  often  taken  advan- 
tage of  in  the  propagation  of  A.  bul- 
biferum, a  common  method  being  to 
bend  over  these  proliferous  fronds  and 
then  peg  them  down  on  the  surface  of 
a  flat  filled  with  light  sandy  soil,  and 
the  latter  being  kept  moist  soon  in- 
duces the  young  plants  to  form  roots, 
after  which  they  may  be  readily  de- 
tached from  the  parent  frond.  This 
operation  is,  of  course,  carried  out  in 
a  shaded  fern  house,  where  the  atmos- 
pheric conditions  are  favorable  for  the 
establishment  of  these  young  plants. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


23 


Asparagus  Sprcngeri. 


The  aspleniums  in  general  produce 
spores  quite  freely,  and  A.  bulbiferum 
is  no  exception  to  the  rule,  but  as  the 
spores  are  somewhat  slow  in  germina- 
tion, the  process  above  described  is 
probably  more  often  used.  No  special 
treatment  is  called  for  in  growing  this 
fern,  and  young  plants  grow  nicely  in 
company  with  Adiantum  cuneatum 
and  Pteris  serrulata,  though  possibly 
enjoying  a  little  more  shade  than  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  those  species. 

W.  H.  T. 

ASTER. 

A  large  genus,  mostly  hardy  peren- 
nials, widely  spread  throughout  the 
world.  Many  of  them  belong  to  North 
America  and  are  the  flowers  of  our 
fields,  and  of  these  many  are  worthy  a 
place  in  the  hardy  garden.  It  is  in  the 
annual,  the  chinensis,  section  that  we 
are  interested. 

Of  all  our  so-called  hardy  annuals 
the  Aster  takes  the  leading  place. 
Most  all  of  our  customers  want  a  few. 
They  are  planted  in  the  mixed  border, 
or  occupy  whole  beds,  and  with  the 
commercial  florist  who  grows  for  cut 
flowers  they  are  a  leading  article.  To 
obtain  a  good  strain  and  cultivate 
them  well  is  a  matter  of  great  import- 
ance to  many  of  us.  From  the  middle 
of  July  till  frost  cuts  them  off  they 
are  a  prominent  feature  in  all  our 
flower  stores. 


Twenty  years  ago  the  raising  of  as- 
ter seed  was  left  largely  to  the  Conti- 
nental Europeans,  but  now-a-days  as 
good  a  strain  as  exists  can  be  obtain- 
ed here,  and  any  of  us  who  has  the 
time  and  industry  can  save  his  own 
aster  seed.  The  finest  flowers  of  the 
purest  colors  should  be  marked  and 
tied  and  allowed  to  get  thoroughly 
ripe,  when  the  stalks  can  be  cut  and 
put  away  in  a  cool,  dry  place  and  the 
seeds  separated  at  your  leisure. 

In  the  following  directions  for  the 
raising  of  the  young  plants  from  the 
seed  to  planting  time  I  have  endeavor- 
ed to  be  explicit,  as  the  same  rules 
will  apply  to  the  raising  of  other  an- 
nuals, such  as  stocks,  zinnias,  phlox, 
etc.,  and  to  which  in  their  order  I 
shall  refer  the  reader  to  asters  for  di- 
rections for  raising  the  young  plants. 

The  seed  should  be  last  year's  crop; 
older  seed  may  grow  but  it  is  not  to 
be  depended  upon.  Successive  crops 
may  be  wanted,  or  some  early  flowers 
grown  under  glass,  so  sowing  can  be 
done  from  middle  of  February  till 
middle  of  April  and  even  later.  Sow 
in  pans,  or,  if  large  quantities  are 
wanted,  in  flats  two  inches  deep.  Al- 
ways sow  in  colors.  Fill  the  flats  about 
even  full  with  a  light  soil  to  which  has 
been  added  a  fourth  of  very  rotten 
stable  manure  or  thoroughly  rotted 
leaf-mould,  then  press  down  with  a 
piece  of  board  or  a  block,  which  will 


carry  the  soil  down  half  an  inch  be- 
low top  of  flat.  Then  with  a  fine  rose 
or  sprinkler  on  the  watering  pot  (or, 
to  save  labor  we  have  the  sprinkler 
screwed  on  the  end  of  a  %-inch  hose), 
give  the  soil  in  the  flats  a  good  water- 
ing, sufficient  to  wet  the  soil  through 
to  the  bottom.  In  half  an  hour  sow 
the  seed.  Why  we  wait  is  to  give  the 
soil  time  to  dry  on  the  surface  so  that 
the  seed  can  be  lightly  pressed  into 
the  soil  with  the  board  without  the 
soil  sticking  to  it.  After  we  press  the 
seed  down  we  sift  over  the  covering  of 
soil.  Whatever  soil  you  use  for  cover- 
ing it  should  not  be  of  a  texture  that 
will  bake  and  form  a  crust.  Loam  and 
leaf-mould,  half  and  half,  will  do  for 
the  majority  of  seeds.  Sifted  Jadoo  is 
also  excellent  but  for  asters  a  covering 
of  the  same  material  that  the  seeds  are 
sown  in  is  good  enough.  It  should  be 
finely  and  evenly  sifted  on. 

The  question  is  often  discussed  as 
to  how  deep  seeds  should  be  covered. 
As  a  rule  the  covering  may  be  about 
the  thickness  of  the  seed,  but  we  are 
sure  that  many  seeds  sown  outside  are 
covered  six  times  their  depth.  With 
the  aster  and  similar  seeds  we  sift  the 
compost  on  till  all  the  seeds  are  out  of 
sight,  and  that  is  sufficient.  Another 
pressing  down  of  the  covering  and  the 
least  amount  of  watering  will  do  as 
you  now  have  only  that  thin  surface 
covering  to  wet.  The  thickness  of  the 
seed  in  the  fiat  or  pan  must  be  entirely 
a  matter  of  judgment,  and  since  it  is 
poor  economy  to  sow  very  thickly  to 
save  space,  as  the  seeds  occupy  a  com- 
paratively small  space.  I  would  say 
that  if  with  asters  every  seed  had  a  lit- 
tle square  of  one-eighth  of  an  inch  to 
itself  it  would  be  about  the  ideal  way 
of  sowing  it,  but  spacing  that  or  any 
of  our  seeds  is  out  of  the  question. 
You  had  better  err,  however,  on  the 
safe  side  and  sow  thinly,  for  if  crowd- 
ed at  the  start  it  is  a  poor  beginning 
for  the  little  plant. 

Seed  when  first  sown  (contrary  to 
plants,  which  it  does  not  hurt  to  let 
get  on  the  dry  side  and  then  copiously 
water)  should  be  kept  at  an  even  de- 
gree of  moisture  with  no  extremes. 
The  flats  should  be  kept  in  a  shady 
place  till  the  seedlings  are  above 
ground  when  they  should  get  the  full 
light  and  not  be  allowed  to  draw  up 
for  want  of  light  and  ventilation. 
When  well  up  less  watchfulness  is  ne- 
cessary. A  temperature  of  55  degrees 
at  night  brings  up  the  seed  nicely  and 
keeps  the  young  plants  growing  till 
time  to  transplant  into  flats  or  into 
the  hot-bed  or  bench. 

As  soon  as  they  have  made  the  first 
character  leaf  they  should  be  trans- 
planted. This  is  an  operation  that 
should  be  done  very  quickly  but  should 
be  well  done,  which  is  more  essential. 
While  the  little  plant  is  held  by  the 
tips  of  the  leaves  by  one  hand,  a  rath- 
er blunt  stick,  held  in  the  other,  makes 
a  hole  in  the  soil  into  which  let  the 
roots  of  the  plant  hang  down  straight, 
and  then  with  the  stick  press  the  soil 
around  the  roots.  The  plant  should  be 
so  far  in  the  ground  that  its  seed 


24 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


leaves  are  only  just  above  the  surface. 
In  pressing  the  soil  around  the  plant 
don't  make  a  point  of  squeezing  the 
soil  around  the  neck  of  the  plant 
near  the  surface;  that  is  not  the 
particular  place.  Put  the  stick  away 
down  by  the  side  so  that  the  soil 
is  firmly  pressed  around  the  roots; 
that  is  the  most  important  operation. 
If  watered  at  once,  thoroughly  water- 
ed, and  shaded  for  a  day  or  two  from 
the  brightest  sun,  the  seedlings  scarce- 
ly feel  the  transplanting. 

In  the  flats  for  plants  we  intend  to 
sell  to  our  customers  middle  and  end 
of  June  we  put  the  plants  about  one 


the  best  and  deepest  soil  we  have,  and 
if  it  is  inclined  to  keep  moist  so  much 
the  better.  Plant  18  inches  between 
rows  and  8  to  12  inches  apart  in  the 
rows  according  to  variety.  When  first 
planted  out  the  small  black  jumping 
fly,  often  called  the  turnip  fly  or  flea, 
is  very  troublesome,  eating  holes  in 
the  leaves.  A  syringing  with  a  solu- 
tion of  paris  green  and  extract  of  to- 
bacco will  kill  the  fly. 

Violet  growers  who  do  not  lift  their 
plants  till  September  can  make  good 
use  of  their  benches  by  devoting  them 
to  asters  during  the  summer.  If  plant- 
ed end  of  May  they  are  out  of  the  way 


mlv 


Asplenium  Bulbiferum. 


inch  apart.  If  sown  middle  of  March 
it  is  near  the  middle  of  April  before 
they  are  established  in  the  flats  after 
being  transplanted,  and  they  then  go 
into  a  cold-frame,  where  in  May  the 
glass  can  be  removed.  If  very  large 
quantities  are  handled  they  can  be 
transplanted  at  once  into  a  cold-frame 
if  the  soil  is  dry  and  warm.  If  you 
have  no  greenhouse  the  whole  opera- 
tion can  be  done  by  the  help  of  a  hot- 
bed. 

When  extra  early  asters  are  wanted 
they  can  be  taken  from  the  flats  in 
which  they  were  transplanted  and  put 
into  2%-inch  pots.  In  this  way  they 
will  transplant  with  safety  to  the  open 
ground.  A  great  many  asters  are  now 
grown  on  greenhouse  benches.  For 
this  purpose  sow  middle  of  February. 
For  our  general  crop  we  sow  middle 
of  March.  Some  of  the  varieties  grow 
very  tall  when  flowered  under  glass 
and  need  staking  and  lots  of  head 
room.  They  pay  for  the  labor  because 
you  get  fine,  long-stemmed,  clean 
flowers.  Under  glass  they  must  be 
given  plenty  of  water  and  frequently 
syringed — well  syringed  for  red  spider 
and  thrips  are  ever  ready  to  attack 
them  in  the  hot  weather. 

For  cuttings  we  plant  our  asters  in 


during  August.  We  have  also  thrown 
out  a  bed  of  Daybreak  carnations  and 
filled  it  up  with  asters.  No  fresh  soil 
is  needed;  in  fact  the  asters  grow  so 
rampant  under  glass  when  well  sup- 
plied with  water  that  too  rich  a  soil  is 
detrimental.  But  out  of  doors  they 
want  a  deep,  rich  soil. 

There  are  many  strains  and  varieties 
of  asters.  The  large,  strong  growing, 
branching  variety  raised  by  'Mr.  Sem- 
ple,  of  Pittsburg,  is  excellent  for  cut- 
ing.  Vick's  Branching  is  of  about  the 
same  character.  Then  there  is  the 
Truffauts  Paeony-Flowered,  very  fine 
if  true,  and  grand  colors;  Victoria, 
finely  formed;  Comet,  finely  curled 
petals;  Jewel,  very  compact,  incurved 
petals;  Betteridge's  Quilled,  a  dense 
mass  of  short  petals  with  a  fringe  of 
larger  ones;  and  many  other  strains, 
all  good  if  well  grown,  but  Semple's, 
though  a  few  weeks  later  than  some 
others,  will  be  found  to  be  grand. 

Under  this  heading  I  have  dwelt  at 
some  length  on  the  operation  of  sow- 
ing seed,  for  I  consider  raising  many  of 
our  plants  from  seed  the  most  import- 
ant part  of  the  grower's  occupation. 
It  is  the  most  delicate,  and  if  not  re- 
quiring the  most  skill  it  certainly  tax- 
es your  patience  and  demands  closer 


attention  than  any  other  method  of 
propagation.  Asters  are  by  no  means 
difficult  to  handle  (quite  the  contrary) 
but  all  seeds  need  care.  You  can  put 
cuttings  into  the  sand  very  clumsily 
and  if  shaded  you  can  trust  most  any- 
one to  water  the  bed  and  count  on  suc- 
cess, but  there  are  many  things  to 
watch  in  raising  seedlings.  They  are 
often  unevenly  sown,  or  careless 
watering  will  wash  most  of  the  seed 
to  one  corner  of  the  box.  When  just 
germinating,  if  allowed  to  get  very  dry 
all  your  work  may  be  in  vain,  or  if 
not  shaded  when  just  peeping  through 
the  surface  they  may  be  burnt  up. 
Skillful  and  proper  management  in 
sowing  is  one  great  part  of  it  and  con- 
stant watchfulness  the  other. 

I  think  the  plan  of  roasting  or  bak- 
ing the  material  with  which  you  cover 
the  seed  is  most  excellent,  especially 
for  those  seeds  that  take  considerable 
time  to  germinate,  for  it  kills  the  seeds 
and  spores  of  weeds  and  mosses  and 
other  low  organisms  that  so  soon  take 
possession  of  an  unoccupied  surface. 
A  piece  of  sheet  iron  over  a  brisk  fire 
will  enable  you  to  quickly  roast  suffi- 
cient soil  to  cover  a  great  many  flats  of 
seed.  And  if  the  whole  mass  of  soil 
in  which  you  sow  as  well  as  cover  has 
been  baked  so  much  the  better. 

ASTILBE  JAPONICA. 

This  plant  was  known  for  years  as 
Spiraea  japonica,  and  by  the  commer- 
cial florist  is  still  almost  universally 
called  spiraea.  It  is  a  perfectly  hardy 
herbaceous  plant,  and  there  are  few 
plants  so  hardy  or  that  will  stand 
more  rough  usage  than  this  astilbe. 
On  dry  sunny  borders  the  feathery 
spikes  are  far  less  beautiful  than  those 
we  grow  under  glass,  but  I  have  seen 
some  very  fine  spikes  this  spring  on 
plants  that  were  m  deep,  moist  soil  and 
partially  shaded  by  trees.  It  Is,  how- 
ever, as  a  pot  plant  or  for  cut  flowers 
in  early  spring  that  we  are  most  con- 
cerned with  the  astilbe.  At  Easter, 
though  by  no  means  so  profitable  as 
many  other  plants  we  grow,  they  seem 
almost  indispensable,  and  again  on 
Memorial  Day  they  are  in  good  de- 
mand. When  used  for  cutting  we  find 
the  flower  is  not  the  only  useful  part 
of  the  plant,  the  foliage  is  always 
cleanly  used  up  in  cheap  bunches  of 
flowers. 

The  clumps  of  roots  that  we  force 
are  all  imported  from  the  rich,  fat 
lands  of  Holland,  and  so  long  as  the 
Holland  growers  can  supply  them  so 
cheaply  it  will  never  pay  us  to  bother 
with  their  cultivation.  They  usually 
arrive  about  the  middle  of  November 
and  should  be  unpacked  and  placed  in 
flats  or  boxes  with  an  inch  or  so  of 
soil  or  litter  over  them.  Then  give 
them  a  good  soaking  and  place  the 
boxes  outside,  anywhere. 

The  astilbe  can  be  forced  into  flower 
in  eight  weeks  by  giving  it  great,  heat, 
but  I  much  prefer  giving  them  twelve 
weeks,  and  the  first  three  weeks  they 
can  be  under  the  bench.  If  not  pre- 
viously done,  when  potting  them  give 
the  roots  a  good  soaking;  there  is 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


25 


Astilbe  Japonica. 


such  a  thick  mass  of  roots  that  the 
ordinary  watering  does  not  thoroughly 
wet  them.  They  are  the  simplest  of 
all  plants  to  force.  Pot  them  into  5, 
6  or  7-inch  pots,  or  whatever  size  will 
hold  the  roots.  A  temperature  of  55 
to  60  degrees  at  night  will  suit  them 
better  than  a  higher  one.  Water  is 
the  great  essential,  for  by  the  flower- 
ing time  the  little  soil  that  you  give 
them  is  one  mass  of  living,  hungry 
roots.  It  is  labor  saved  and  far  more 
satisfactory  all  around  to  stand  each 
pot  in  a  7  or  8-inch  saucer,  in  which 
keep  a  constant  supply  of  water,  and 
if  this  is  weak  liquid  manure  your 
plants  and  plumes  of  flowers  will  be 
much  finer. 

The  astilbe  is  not  troubled  by  aphis, 

pider,    thrips,    or   any    other   of    our 

pests,  but  when  the  growth  is  young 

ind  not  matured  they  are  easily  burnt 

by  tobacco  smoke  and  that  must  be 

ivoided,    either   by   covering   the    as- 

ilbe,  or  giving  them  a  good  syring- 

ng,  before  you  fumigate,  or  best  of  all 

don't  have  them  in  a  house  that  must 

be  fumigated. 

There  is  a  variety  known  as  com- 
>acta,  which  requires  two  weeks  more 
ime  to  force.  Also  A.  japonica  varie- 
ata,  which  has  the  leaves  prettily 
variegated  with  yellow,  and  bearing 
dense  panicles,  like  compacta.  But 
;he  original  species,  japonica,  is  the 
best  of  all  for  commercial  purposes, 
and  has  the  most  graceful  panicles  of 
flowers. 
Those  wanted  for  Decoration  Day 


we  keep  out  of  doors  till  April  1st; 
they  come  into  flower  easily  in  two 
months  thus  late  in  the  season.  When 
sold  to  a  regular  customer  you  will 
do  well  to  either  sell  or  give  with 
them  a  7-inch  saucer  with  instructions 
to  place  under  the  pot  and  keep  water 
in  it.  If  this  is  done  the  astible1  will 
be  satisfactory,  otherwise  they  will 
shrivel  up. 

AZALEA. 

Of  all  the  species  of  this  beautiful 
genus,  the  Indian  or  Chinese  are  the 
most  valuable.  The  growers  of  conti- 
nental Europe  have  made  such  a  spe- 
cialty of  growing  azaleas  that  it  is  not 
likely  that  we  shall  for  some  time  look 
to  any  other  source  for  our  supply. 
They  may  have  neither  soil,  climate 
nor  labor  more  suitable  than  we  have 
in  many  parts  of  this  continent,  but 
certain  it  is  that  with  our  present  fa- 
cilities or  methods  we  cannot  begin  to 
raise  an  azalea  at  anything  like  the 
same  cost  and  quality  as  those  import- 
ed. New  varieties  are,  of  course,  raised 
from  seed,  and  at  the  third  season  you 
will  be  able  to  see  whether  you  have 
any  improvements  on  existing  varie- 
ties. 

They  can  also  be  propagated  from 
cuttings  by  inserting  the  cutting  in 
sand.  A  cutting  of  2%  or  3  inches  of 
what  is  known  as  half-ripened  wood 
is  best;  that  is,  the  young  growth  of 
spring,  not  in  too  green  or  succulent 
a  state,  as  you  would  a  verbena,  nor 
too  much  ripened  and  hard.  A  closely 


shaded  frame  with  some  heat  under 
the  sand,  either  from  pipes  or  ma- 
nure, would  be  the  most  favorable  con- 
dition. They  are  slow  to  root,  and  in 
our  climate  the  little  plants  or  cut- 
tings are  so  liable  to  the  attacks  of 
thrip  and  red  spider  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  and  so  difficult  to  re- 
move, that  propagation  by  cuttings  is 
not  worthy  of  consideration,  either  to 
produce  a  fine  plant  or  for  profitable 
operation.  All  the  plants  we  handle  in 
our  business  are  grafted.  Desirable 
and  popular  varieties  are  grafted  on 
stocks  raised  from  the  seed  of  some 
strong  growing  varieties.  Our  chief 
interest  in  the  azalea  is  how  to  han- 
dle them  when  they  arrive  here,  and 
how  to  care  for  those  unsold,  w.hich 
should  make,  by  good  care,  a  fine  plant 
for  the  second  or  third  year. 

Soil. 

It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  a 
soil  containing  lime  is  very  unsuit- 
able for  azaleas  or  any  of  the  order 
ericaceae,  which  includes  the  heaths, 
rhododendrons,  etc.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  in  some  soils  the  plants  imported 
and  potted  in  October  have  made 
scarcely  any  young  roots  into  the  soil 
we  give  them.  The  Belgians  grow 
them  in  fibrous  peat,  which  in 
most  parts  of  our  country  is  difficult 
to  obtain.  But  peat  is  not  entirely 
essential.  Two-thirds  of  turfy  loam, 
not  sifted,  but  just  broken  up,  and 
one-third  of  leaf  mould,  will  make  a 
good  compost  in  which  azaleas  will 
thrive.  If  to  the  above  is  added  one- 
tenth  of  finely  sifted  decomposed  cow 
or  sheep  manure,  so  much  the  better. 

When  unpacked,  the  roots  are  often 
found  dry.  They  have  also  rooted  so 
freely  that  to  pot  them  just  as  re- 
ceived would  want  an  unwieldy  sized 
pot.  The  ball  of  earth  can  be  reduced 
one-third  by  shaking  off  the  soil  and 
this  appears  to  do  the  plant  little  or 
no  harm.  Considerable  of  the  ball  can 
be  reduced  by  slicing  off  an  inch  or  so 
with  a  sharp  knife  or  hatchet.  When 
the  ball  is  reduced  to  the  required 
size — and  it  should  only  be  done  when 
the  roots  would  require  a  pot  out  of 
proportion  to  the  plant— soak  the  ball 
of  roots  in  a  tub  of  water  for  a  few 
seconds.  Pot  firmly.  If  the  soil  is 
left  loose,  it  will  only  be  a  channel  for 
the  water  to  run  down  and  escape  the 
roots  that  need  it. 

For  the  first  two  or  three  weeks 
after  potting,  the  plants  are  best  in  a 
cool,  shady  and  rather  close  house  or 
frame;  after  that,  a  cool,  light  house 
for  those  you  wish  to  flower  the  fol- 
lowing Easter.  By  cool  I  mean  40 
degrees  at  night  is  ample,  and  to  re- 
ta/rd  tiheim  still  more,  anything  above 
the  freezing  point  will  do.  Some 
varieties  cannot  be  kept  for  spring, 
and  it  is  well  to  bring  early  varieties 
along,  so  that  at  all  times  during  win- 
ter you  have  some  plants  in  flower. 

At  no  time  should  the  roots  of  the 
azalea  be  allowed  to  get  extremely 
dry.  They  will  not  bear  it;  and  it  may 
be  well  to  state  right  here  that  the 
many  complaints  of  our  customers 


26 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


that  their  azalea  has  shriveled  up  or 
the  flowers  are  wilted  is  nothing  but 
the  insufficiency  of  water.  Especially 
is  this  the  case  with  the  plants  when 
sold  the  winter  following  their  im- 
portation. When  in  a  temperature  of 
over  50  degrees  or  when  any  forcing  is 
attempted,  the  plants  should  be  well 
syringed  at  least  once,  or  better,  twice 
a  day. 

Mealy  bug  often  attacks  azaleas. 
Plenty  of  syringing  will  keep  them 
down.  Thrip  and  red  spider  are  also 
very  bothersome  to  them,  but  neither 
of  these  would  appear  if  syringing 
were  faithfully  observed.  They  can 
be  removed  by  a  syringing  of  the  to- 
bacco extract.  The  Rose  Leaf  Extract 


previous  summer's  growth.  Place  them 
in  a  light,  warm  house,  and  syringe 
frequently.  When  cutting  back,  see 
that  the  soil  is  in  good  shape  and  the 
drainage  in  order.  By  the  first  of  June 
they  will  have  made  a  good  growth; 
that  growth  is  what  gives  you  the 
bloom  the  following  winter.  From 
the  first  to  the  middle  of  June  plunge 
them  out-of-doors  in  the  broad  sun. 
The  pots  should  be  plunged  in  some 
material  to  the  rim,  but  in  a  place 
where  water  won't  remain  dur- 
ing heavy  rains  to  unduly 
soak  the  roots.  Over  the  sur- 
face of  the  pots  spread  an  inch 
of  rotted  refuse  hops  or  rotted  stable 
manure.  In  this  position  they  will  do 


Indian  Azalea. 


diluted  50  to  1  will  do.  It  is  a  general 
belief  that  tobacco  smoke  injures  the 
foliage.  It  may  be  so,  and  it  is  well 
to  avoid  it,  but  I  have  seen  little  evi- 
dence that  it  injured  the  azalea. 

During  January,  February  and 
March  the  plants  imported  the  pre- 
vious autumn  have  a  great  inclina- 
tion to  make  a  growth  before  they 
develop  their  flowers.  If  tlhlis  growth 
is  not  rubbed  off  the  flower  will  be  so 
weakened  by  the  strong  young  growth 
that  it  will  amount  to  nothing. 

Many  growers  would  rather  import 
every  year,  and  if  they  had  plants  left 
over  in  the  spring,  throw  them  away. 
To  the  man  who  grows  but  a  few 
dozen  this  is  likely  to  be  the  most 
profitable  way  of  doing  business;  but 
where  there  is  enough  to  warrant  sys- 
tematic care,  it  should  not  be  done, 
for  the  second,  third  or  even  tenth 
year  they  are  a  more  satisfactory  plant 
to  the  purchaser  than  those  just  im- 
ported. With  good  but  not  necessarily 
costly  care  the  azalea  attains  a  good 
size  and  flourishes  for  many  years. 

Plants  of  the  previous  autumn's  im- 
portation that  are  unsold  the  next 
spring,  and  are  frequently  in  bad 
shape  from  neglect  in  stores,  should 
be  cut  back  quite  severely,  even  to  the 


till  the  end  of  September,  or  till  there 
is  danger  of  frost.  They  want  faith- 
ful attendance  in  watering,  never  to 
be  killing  dry  and  in  hot  weather  a 
daily  syringing. 

If  it  is  desired  to  grow  on  some 
plants  a  number  of  years  to  make  fine 
specimens,  the  above  treatment  in 
most  respects  will  do,  but  there  are  a 
few  exceptions.  Plants  established  in 
pots  will  seldom  need  those  early 
growths  rubbed  off,  for  they  have  not 
the  inclination  to  make  them;  neither 
will  they  want  the  hard  cutting  back 
every  spring,  the  growth  they  make 
after  flowering  being  sufficient  for  the 
next  year,  and  stopping  strong 
growths  to  keep  the  plant  in  good 
shape  is  all  that  is  needed. 

Azaleas  by  training  and  tying  easily 
conform  to  almost  any  shape.  They 
are  beautiful  if  left  to  grow  quite  nat- 
urally. They  are  easily  kept  by  pinch- 
ing and  stopping  in  what  may  be  call- 
ed umbrella  form,  but  are  grand  when 
trained  in  pyramidal  form.  Few  cul- 
tivated plants  can  equal  a  well  flow- 
ered azalea  four  or  five  feet  in  diam- 
eter at  base,  tapering  to  two  feet  at 
top  and  six  or  seven  feet  high. 

The  Ghent  or  American  azaleas  are 
hardy  deciduous  shrubs.  The  flowers 


appear  in  great  abundance  before  the 
leaves  are  developed.  They  are  now 
imported  in  large  quantities  for  Easter 
sales  and  are  very  handsome  plants.  If 
forced  early  enough  for  Easter  the 
flowers  are  fairly  durable,  but  in  the 
warm  days  of  May  they  drop  quickly. 
The  shades  of  color  are  all  beautiful 
and  range  from  pure  white  to  red. 
Many  of  the  pink  and  orange  varie- 
ties are  grand  in  color  and  when  dec- 
orated with  suitable  ribbon  are  most 
attractive  in  our  stores  and  sell  well. 
The  plants  arrive  with  the  Indian 
azaleas  and  should  receive  a  soaking 
at  the  roots  and  then  be  potted  and 
stored  away  in  a  cold-frame  till  they 
are  wanted  to  force.  The  time  needed 
to  bring  them  into  flower  will  depend 
upon  how  early  the  season  is,  and 
more  still  on  the  temperature  of  your 
house.  In  a  house  with  a  night  tem- 
perature of  55  degrees  allow  about 
seven  weeks.  Any  soil  will  do  for 
them,  as  it  will  not  pay  to  carry  them 
over  the  season  unsold.  It  will  be 
much  cheaper  to  import  fresh  stock. 
Our  nurserymen  recommend  them 
strongly  for  planting  out,  and  where 
the  rhododendron  does  well  the  hardy 
azalea  will  also  thrive,  but  in  many 
places  they  are  an  entire  disappoint- 
ment and  you  should  be  careful  about 
commending  them  to  your  patrons. 

BALSAM. 

In  Europe,  or  the  more  northern 
parts  of  it,  the  balsams  are  often  seen 
grown  in  pots.  -  With  us  they  do  so 
well  out  of  doors  that  they  are  not 
thought  of  enough  importance  to  culti- 
vate except  for  the  borders  and  large 
beds.  Twenty  years  ago  when  more 
flowers  were  used  with  short  stems 
the  white  balsam  was  largely  grown 
by  all  of  us  for  use  in  designs.  They 
were  then  carefully  kept  free  of  side 
shoots  and  bore  on  their  main  stem 
fine  double  flowers.  They  are  seldom 
grown  now  for  that  purpose,  but  are 
still  favorites  wiWi  many  on  account 
of  their  freedom  in  flowering,  strong 
growth  and  gay  appearance  in  the 
mixed  border.  In  large  grounds  where 
to  fill  up  is  the  chief  object  the  bal- 
sam is  most  suitable. 

For  cultivation  of  young  plants  see 
Aster,  but  remember  that  the  balsam 
'is  a  very  tender  plant  and  instead  of 
the  cold-frame  should  have  a  light, 
warm  house  or  the  hot-bed.  They  are 
very  strong  growing  and  should  have 
a  deep,  rich  soil,  plenty  of  water,  and 
they  deserve  a  space  of  at  least  18 
inches  each  way.  The  seed  is  most 
easily  saved  and  if  you  select  your 
flowers  and  save  from  the  finest  you 
will  in  a  few  years  have  as  good  a 
strain  as  can  be  procured  anywhere. 

BAY  TREES. 

The  Sweet  Bay  (Laurus  nobilis)  has 
been  imported  from  Belgium  to  this 
country  in  large  numbers  the  past  15 
or  20  years.  Although  the  rather  stiff, 
formal  shapes  into  which  they  are 
trimmed/  and  to  which  they  so  readily 
conform  are  entirely  inappropriate  in 
the  decoration  of  a  drawing  room,  yet 
there  are  many  situations  where  they 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


27 


Columnar  Bay  Tree. 

\.ve  a  striking  effect  and  are  certain- 
not  out  of  place.     A  single  pair  of 
;rfect  form  could  be  admitted  to  any 
lurch  ceremony  or  at  the  decorating 
a  large  hall.    In  the  summer  time  a 
indsome  pair   stand — one     on     each 
ie  of  the  broad     granolithic     walk, 
iding  to  a  stately  mansion  on  one 
our  fine  residence  streets,  and  very 
te  their  appearance  is.    Too  much  of 
may  get  tiresome,  as  clipped     and 
3tesquely-shaped  Norway  spruces  do 
overdone,  but  the  chronic  grumbler 
10  in  his  ignorant    and    prejudiced 
ndness   objects  to  these   handsome 
,y  trees  because  "they  are  not  nat- 
al" should  be  confined  to  the  back- 
>ods  eternally.     Their  formality  sets 
the  brighter  the  natural  grace  of 
>  birch,  the  elm,  the  maple  or  lin- 
i    and    the    more    or    less    freedom 
the  hardy  flowering  shrubs. 

Another  place  I  found  the  Bays  to 
useful  was  when  asked  to  decorate 

a  store  opening  and  wagon  loads 
palms  were  expected.  They  are  just 

thing  to  fill  up,  and  a  fine  pair  or 


half  a  dozen  of  them  on  the  sidewalk 
is  just  what  Mr.  Goldstein  wants  to 
attract  the  attention  of  every  passer 
by,  and  what  could  you  put  there 
equal  in  appearance  and  withstand 
the  ordeal  unharmed?  Considering  the 
years  they  must  be  grown,  the  labor 
entailed  and  great  skill  in  producing 
such  a  large  tree  in  such  a  compara- 
tively small  tub,  their  cost  to  us  is,  I 
think,  very  moderate. 

It  is  often  a  surprise  to  us  that  such 
a  stout  stem  and  large  head  of 
branches  and  leaves  can  subsist  on 
such  a  relatively  small  quantity  of 
soil.  From  early  spring  till  fall  they 
want  an  abundance  of  water.  They 
are  out  of  doors  all  summer,  or  should 
be,  so  the  hose  can  play  on  their 
heads  freely  and  over  watering  of  the 
soil  is  about  impossible.  From  No- 
vember to  April  a  cold  shed  will  keep 
them  in  good  order  if  it  is  not  too 
dark  and  where  they  won't  get  more 
than  10  degrees  of  frost.  A  coach 
house  is  an  excellent  place.  It  is  usu- 
ally light  and  seldom  too  cold.  Less 
water  will  do  than  in  the  summer 
time. 

The  Sweet  Bay  is  a  native  of  South- 
ern Europe.  All  good  boys  should  have 
read  in  the  good  book  that  if  they  are 
righteous  in  their  lives  they  will 
"flourish  like  the  green  bay  tree."  But 
they  must  not  become  a  millionaire  by 
keeping  a  department  store  or  they 
will  be  more  like  an  aged  pumpkin, 
hollow,  mushy  and  slushy  inwardly. 
This  fine  evergreen  grows  well  and 
is  much  planted  in  the  milder  parts  of 
the  British  Isles.  I  expect  that  all 
over  Ireland  it  grows  finely  and  is  sel- 
dom or  never  injured  by  frost.  In  the 
South  of  England  it  grows  and  flour- 
ishes for  years,  but  a  winter  comes 
occasionally  and  kills  it  to  the  ground. 
Such  a  winter  was  that  of  '60  and  '61. 

The  best  time  for  us  to  cut  back 
growths  or  to  keep  it  in  that  splendid 
form  that  they  are  sent  to  us,  is  in  the 
spring  just  before  they  start  to  grow, 
but  if  you  wished  a  still  more  trim 
appearance  you  would  have  to  pinch 
the  young  growths  as  they  develop.  A 
new  tub  and  more  root  room  is  needed 
every  three  or  four  years,  but  keep 
them  in  as  small  a  tub  as  possible. 
Liquid  manure  will  help  them  much 
in  April,  May  and  June.  To  those  who 
have  not  made  bows  of  their  strong 
bottom  growths  or  hunted  rabbits 
beneath  their  branches,  they  may  ap- 
pear a  cumbersome  plant  to-  occupy 
valuable  greenhouse  room.  They  don't 
want  it.  If  never  coddled  up  under 
glass  they  will  stand  15  degrees  of 
frost  without  harm,  but  rather  give 
them  a  little  higher  temperature. 

BEDDING  PLANTS. 

Although  directions  for  the  man- 
agement of  all  our  familiar  bedding 
plants  will  be  found  under  their  re- 
spective heads  a  few  words  on  the 
general  subject  is  in  order.  The  earli- 
est bedding  that  the  writer  can  re- 
member was  not  very  unlike  that  of 
the  present  day. 

Fifty  years  ago  we  had  (I  am  speak- 
ing now  of  the  gardens  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, for  the  American  flower  garden 


had  then  scarcely  an  existence)  beds 
of  verbenas  edged  with  a  variegated 
geranium,  beds  of  heliotrope,  beds  of 
Tom  Thumb  geraniums,  masses  of 
yellow  calceolarias,  in  fact  it  was 
masses  of  flowering  plants,  and  that 
is  largely  the  taste  of  the  day,  though 
not  exclusively  so  because  we  have  so 
many  foliage  plants  now  which  were 
not  then  known  and  which  now  make 
beds  equal  in  color  effect  to  many  of 
the  flowers.  The  coleus  and  achyran- 
thes  were  unknown  and  most  of  the 
small  plants  that  afterwards  came  into 
favor  for  carpet  bedding  were  not  in- 
troduced, or  were  neglected  because  of 
no  value  in  the  economy  of  the  flower 
garden.  It  seems  to  me  that  those 
gardens  of  old  with  their  circles  and 
squares  and  ovals  of  showy  plants, 
just  as  well  kept  as  our  gardens  are 
to-day,  were  fully  as  beautiful  as  any 
we  now  have. 

Then  came  the  ribbon  border — long 
strips  of  flower  garden,  perhaps  six  or 
seven  feet  on  each  side  of  a  path.  This 
often  began  with  the  blue  lobelia  next 


Pyramidal  Bay  Tree. 


28 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


the  margin  of  grass  or  box  edging, 
then  a  variegated  geranium,  next  Cal- 
ceolaria annua  floribunda,  back  of 
that  Salvia  patens  (a  most  beautiful 
blue),  then  a  row  of  dahlias,  and,  if 
the  border  was  wide,  backed  up  by  a 
stately  line  of  hollyhocks.  The  rib- 
bon border  was  well  done  in  this 
country  in  many  places,  but  as  some 
of  the  flowering  plants  could  not  be 
depended  upon  here  we  had  the  coleus, 
which  does  finely  with  us  and  is  a 
poor,  stunted,  dull  colored  plant  in 
the  gardens  of  Great  Britain. 

Then  twenty-five  years  ago,  or  per- 
haps a  little  more,  the  carpet  bedding 
was  evolved  and  was  carried  out  most 
elaborately  in  many  places,  both  pri- 
vate and  public.  Perhaps  in  no  place 
in  the  world  was  it  carried  to  greater 
perfection  or  more  ingeniously  than 


the  leading  plants  used  in  carpet  bed- 
ding. They  do  better  in  our  climate. 
I  cannot  believe  that  the  alternanthe- 
ras  would  grow  there  as  they  do  with 
us,  except  in  the  warmer  parts  of 
Southern  Europe,  and  if  you  take  the 
alternantheras  out  of  carpet  bedding 
you  leave  a  large  hole.  Carpet  bedding 
never  was  a  great  item  with  the  com- 
mercial florist  simply  because  it  was 
too  expensive  for  the  great  majority 
of  our  patrons.  A  bed  that  could  b3 
well  filled  with  geraniums  or  coleus 
for  $15.00  would  cost  $40.00  if  well 
done  as  a  carpet  bed.  The  plants  we 
always  had  to  grow,  for  there  was  sure 
to  be  a  demand  from  people  who 
wanted  to  try  their  hand  at  a  fancy 
bed. 

The  prevailing  taste  to-day  is  to  use 
flowering  plants  as  much  as  possible; 


hot  house  plants  that  are  bedded  or 
plunged  out  during  the  summer 
months,  including  c.rotons,  palms, 
bamboos,  etc.  They  are  interesting 
beds,  more  interesting  than  hand- 
some, but  are  instructive  and  to  those 
who  love  plants  are  attractive. 

A  very  simple  and  well  known  ar- 
rangement of  a  bed  that  I  saw  very 
recently  pleased  me  very  much,  and 
still  more  when  the  "Missus'"  of  the 
grounds  said:  "Mr.  S.,  we  are  delight- 
ed with  the  bed  this  year.  Don't  you 
think  it  is  beautiful?"  It  was  sur- 
rounded here  and  there,  but  not 
densely  with  a  few  trees  and  the  bed 
was  some  thirty  yards  back  from  the 
street.  It  was  simply  a  center  (about 
two  dozen)  of  a  tall,  narrow  leaved, 
dark — almost  blood  red. — canna  (I 
wish  I  could  give  you  its  correct 


\ 


in  the  South  Park  system,  of  Chicago, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Frederick 
Kanst.  It  was  admired  by  millions 
and  criticised  by  a  few.  The  minority 
are  often  in  the  right,  but  in  this  casa 
the  critics  were  only  wasting  their 
words.  It  was  gratifying  to  the  mil- 
lions, and  harmless  surely,  and  there- 
fore served  its  purpose.  On  a  visit  to 
the  "Old  Country"  in  1885  we  noticed 
much  less  carpet  bedding  than  we  ex- 
pected to  see  and  remember  the  re- 
mark of  one  head-gardener  who  was 
lord  of  a  large  domain:  "No,  we  have 
given  it  up  and  gone  back  to  the  old 
geraniums  and  calceolarias."  It  was 
then  in  its  greatest  popularity  with 
us,  but  was  on  the  wane  across  the 
water. 
As  with  the  coleus  so  with  some  of 


Bedding  in  a  Public  Park. 

even  the  coleus  is  not  as  popular  as  it 
was  a  few  years  since.  To  be  candid 
the  zonale  geranium,  with  its  splendid 
habit  and  beautiful  trusses  of  flowers 
of  brilliant  and  pleasing  colors,  is 
such  a  universal  favorite  as  was  the 
horse  Eclipse  in  the  mythical  story: 
"It  is  the  geranium  first,  the  rest  no- 
where." 

There  is,  however,  another  style,  or 
rather  another  arrangement,  of  bed- 
ding that  is  particularly  suited  to  our 
climate,  and  on  a  lawn  that  is  not 
wanted  for  croquet  or  tennis  what  can 
be  more  cheerful  than  a  bed  of  can- 
nas,  caladiums  and  coleus.  Perhaps 
this  style  of  bedding  is  not  worthy  the 
name  sub-tropical,  perhaps  the  latter 
term  is  mare  properly  applied  to  a  bed 
that  contains  a  great  variety  of  our 


name)  surrounded  by  Caladium  escu- 
lentum,  then  two  rows  of  Coleus 
Verschaffeltii  and  next  the  grass  a 
circle  of  Golden  Bedder  coleus.  This 
is  quite  a  conventional  arrangement 
with  us,  but  hard  to  beat  and  gener- 
ally pleasing. 

The  landscape  architect,  especially 
of  the  most  approved  style,  would,  I 
feel  sure,  declaim  against  this  bed  on 
the  lawn  and  say  it  was  bad  taste,  not 
in  harmony  with  the  grass  and  the 
shade  of  elm  and  maple  and  linden. 
The  up-to-date  landscape" -artist  don't 
want  you  to  plant  a  golden  elder  or 
variegated  cornus  or  Prunus  Pissardii 
in  shrubbery  groupings  because  the 
coloring  is  abnormal  and  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  nature.  What  does  the 
proprietor  care  about  such  things?  He 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


29 


Various  Styles  of  Bedding. 


Combination  Canna  and  Carpet  Bed. 


30 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


wants  to  be  cheerful.  This  sticking 
to  nature  is  carried  to  excess.  To  be 
true  to  nature  we  would  have  to  un- 
dergo a  great  change.  We  would'  not 
cut  our  hair  or  pare  our  finger  nails 
or  use  knives  and  forks  and  would 
retrograde  to  the  days  of  the  fig  leaf. 
Our  early  ancestors  when  crawling  or 
leaping  from  limb  to  limb  or  wading 
through  bogs  when  emigrating  to  the 
northern  regions  of  the  globe  found 
the  natural  coats  of  the  animals  they 
had  slain  very  comfortable  on  their 
own  backs,  and  now  clothing  has  de- 
veloped into  adornment  and  frills  as 
well  as  becoming  a  necessity. 

It  is  the  mission  of  the  florist  to 
suggest  the  most  appropriate  style  of 
bedding  to  his  customers  where  ad- 


your  ability  to  keep  a  good  stock  of 
flower  garden  plants  in  a  compara- 
tively small  space  till  after  Easter. 
From  fall  till  after  Easter  our  benches 
are  wanted  for  successive  crops,  but 
Easter  sales  largely  clear  them  except 
those  planted  with  roses  and  carna- 
tions. Geraniums  can  be  then  given 
their  last  shift,  and  so  can  ageratum, 
feverfew,  heliotrope  and  salvia.  Ooleus 
can  be  grown  from  a  cutting  to  a  fine 
bedding  plant  in  eight  weeks.  Cannas 
and  caladiums  can  be  kept  in  flats  till 
middle  of  April  and  then  make  fine 
plants  by  June  1st.  Petunias  can  be 
pricked  out  in  pans  and  then  in  six 
weeks  will  make  the  best  of  bedding 
plants.  Centaurea,  coleus,  achyran- 
thes,  verbenas,  heliotropes,  many  of 


must  have  attention  when  it  is  need- 
ed or  it  is  too  late.  How  often  you 
hear  the  remark:  "No,  I  am  short  on 
this  or  that.  Was  too  busy  and  ne- 
glected them."  This  attention  is  not 
science;  it  is  only  close  application 
and  good  management;  and  having 
sufficient  help  at  the  right  time,  and 
setting  the  men  at  the  work  most 
suited  to  them,  is  the  very  best  of 
good  management. 

I  don't  know  any  business  where 
neglect  to  do  work  at  the  proper  time 
will  bring  about  worse  results.  A 
tailor,  a  jeweler,  a  printer  or  a  parson 
can  lock  his  shop  or  office  for  weeks; 
his  business  may  suffer,  but  his  goods 
will  not.  Ours  must  be  fed  and  aired 
and  moved  and  shifted  as  they  need  it. 


vice  is  asked  for,  and  poor  policy  to 
crowd  in  more  than  is  discreet  when 
it  is  left  to  his  judgment.  In  resi- 
dence streets  a  flower  bed  between  the 
house  and  the  street  is  not  good  taste 
and  should  not  be  advocated.  At  the 
side  or  slightly  to  the  rear  of  the 
house  is  much  better.  Houses  of  a 
moderate  size  with  verandas  at  side 
and  front  have  often  a  row  or  two  of 
the  flowering  cannas  in  the  border 
surrounding  the  veranda,  and  very 
handsome  they  look. 

Florists  are  now  divided  into  sev- 
eral classes.  The  strictly  store  man 
has  no  interest  in  bedding  plants,  nor 
has  the  wholesale  grower  more  than 
to  dispose  of  them,  but  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  florists  of  the  country 
raise  bedding  plants  for  their  spring 
crops  and  depend  upon  their  sale  for 
a  good  part  of  their  income.  If  well 
and  carefully  done  and  a  fair  and  just 
charge  made  your  customers  will  be 
very  unlikely  to  leave  you  and  you 
can  depend  on  the  order  from  year  to 
year. 

The  profit  will  largely  depend  upon 


Design  Bedding. 

the  geraniums,  lobelias,  aloysias,  and 
all  the  carpet  bedding  plants,  are  far 
better  in  the  hot  beds  than  in  the 
greenhouses,  giving  you  plenty  of 
room  for  the  spreading  out  of  your 
fine  zonale  geraniums,  cannas  and 
caladiums. 

A  great  mistake  made  by  too  many 
florists,  especially  by  those  who  have 
only  three  or  four  houses,  is  to  be 
short  of  help  just  at  the  time  it  is 
most  needed.  For  the  first  two  weeks 
after  Easter  a  man  with  20,000  feet  of 
glass  occupied  by  a  general  run  of 
plants  could  use  twenty  men  with 
profit,  though  during  February  and 
March  only  five  men  were  needed  to 
keep  up  with  the  work.  I  am  aware 
of  the  fact  that  you  could  not  get  the 
right  kind  of  men  even  if  you  wanted 
them,  but  many  times  you  allow  a 
batch  of  plants  to  spoil  for  want  of 
handling  when  a  little  more  help 
would  have  saved  them. 

Bedding  plants  are  all  soft-wooded 
and  while  they  rest  largely,  or  can  be 
just  kept  slowly  growing  during  win- 
ter they  feel  the  suns  of  spring  and 


Half  the  success  with  bedding 
plants  depends  upon  the  planting  out. 
We  charge  nothing  for  planting  if  the 
bed  is  dug  and  prepared  and  the 
plants  to  fill  it  amount  to  $10.00  or 
more.  If  not  prepared  we  charge  for 
labor,  manure,  etc.  We  always  prefer 
to  plant  where  there  is  only  a  coach- 
man kept,  for  then  it  is  properly  done. 
Sufficient  plants  are  put  in  to  make  a 
good  appearance.  If  enough  are  sent 
on  the  wagon  there  is  none  left  over 
to  call  for  another  day,  nor  three' 
more  to  be  delivered  to  fill  up.  Nor  is 
four  dozen  stretched  out  over  a  bed 
where  six  dozen  should  be  planted.  If 
the  bed  looks  skimpy  you  don't  want 
it  to  be  known  that  they  were  youiS 
plants,  and  you  will  perhaps  get  the 
blame  for  poor  general  effect,  for_ 
there  are  plenty  of  unreasonable  peo-; 
pie  about. 

We  insist  on  our  men  arranging  the 
plants  carefully,  just  placing  them  in 
the  holes,  but  not  filling  in  the  soil, 
and  then  when  all  are  in  place  giving 
each  plant  a  good  soaking  and  in  a 
few  minutes  filling  in  with  the  dry 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ground.  That  watering  is  worth  ten 
on  the  surface.  Tell  your  customers 
that  cannas  and  caladiums  can  be 
soaked  every  dry  evening,  but  that 
geraniums  and  beds  of  coleus  and 
most  everything  else  should  be  left 
alone  except  in  very  dry  times  when 
a  thorough  soaking  should  be  given 
once  a  week,  followed  by  a  hoeing  the 
next  morning  if  the  plants  are  not 
touching  each  other. 

In  charging  for  the  bedding  plants, 
whether  contract  or  not,  you  should 
put  down  in  your  day  book  just  how 
many  plants  of  each  variety  it  took 
to  fill  the  different  beds.  Then,  if 
Mrs.  Goodpay  orders  her  large  circu- 
lar bed  filled  with  geraniums  again 
this  year  you  will  refer  to  her  charge 
of  last  year  and  find  that  it  took  75 
Mt.  of  Snow  for  a  double  row  on  the 
outside  and  the  center  required  140 
Ernest  Lauth.  These  figures  are  at 
random.  But  whether  you  plant  the 
same  or  vary  it  you  will  know  exactly 
how  many  is  needed.  Again  you  are 
asked  a  hundred  times  this  question: 
"I  have  a  flower  bed  eight  feet  across. 
How  many  geraniums  will  it  take  to 
fill  it?  Or  how  many  coleus  will  it 
take?"  We  reckon  ten  inches  apart 
for  our  4-inch  geraniums,  about  nine 
inches  for  coleus,  fifteen  inches  for 
cannas  and  caladiums,  and  some  spe- 
cified distance  for  all  the  plants  we 
commonly  use.  You  can  have  a  card 
with  the  sizes  of  the  beds  and  quanti- 
ties needed  all  made  out  so  that  you 
can  give  an  answer  in  a  few  minutes, 
whereas,  if  you  had  not  the  thing  fig- 
ured out  you  would  have  to  begin  a 
sum  in  mathematics  while  somebody 
else  is  waiting  for  an  interview. 

The  bedding  plant  business  is  not 
going  to  die  out  and  you  should  cater 
to  it.  There  is  a  good  profit  in  it  and 
it  does  not  conflict  with  other 
branches  of  your  business.  With  a 
clear  head  you  can  do  it  all. 


A  Long  Geranium  Bed. 


BEGONIA. 


There  are  few  more  familiar  plants 
than  the  begonias  and  few  so  widely 
grown.  The  most  popular  section — 
the  shrubby  sorts — are  many  of  them 
most  excellent  house  plants.  The  Rex 
or  stemless  section  make  fine  decora- 
tive plants  and  the  tuberous  rooted 
class  are  grand  bedding  plants.  There 
are  hundreds  of  species  and  numerous 
hybrids  obtained  by  crossing  many  of 
the  species,  and  among  the  varieties 
there  are  some  beautiful  plants. 

The  begonias  are  all  from  warm  cli- 


mates but  do  not  require  a  great  heat, 
most  of  them  thriving  well  in  a  night 
temperature  of  50  to  60  degrees  during 
the  winter  months.  A  good  loam  with 
a  fourth  of  leaf-mould  and  rotten  cow 
manure  will  grow  any  of  them.  If  the 
soil  is  heavy  add  some  sand,  but  they 
are  really  not  very  particular  as  to 
soil. 

The  Shrubby  Section. 

The  shrubby  section  is  the  most 
popular  and  the  most  useful  to  the 
florist,  the  winter  flowering  kinds  be- 
ing in  good  demand.  They  flower  for 


Various  Styles  of  Bedding. 


32 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


months  and  the  flowers  are  generally 
double  while  the  plant  is  always  orna- 
mental. They  are  propagated  in  sand 
during  the  winter  months,  and  during 
April  and  May,  if  properly  shaded  and 
watered,  they  root  quickly.  Any  part 
of  the  shoot  or  stem  will  root  except 
that  which  is  hard  or  woody.  During 
summer  they  are  best  kept  under  glass 
but  should  have  an  abundance  of  air 
and  not  too  dense  a  shade.  A  close, 
damp,  dark  house  will  produce  a  rust 
on  the  leaves  of  many  of  them,  which 
is  hard  to  overcome,  spoiling  the  leaf 
as  well  as  flower. 

There  are  so  many  species  and  varie- 
ties that  but  a  few  can  be  enumerated. 

Fuchsioides:  A  tall  growing,  grace- 
ful species  with  scarlet  flowers. 


ers  are  of  no  particular  value,  not  be- 
ing produced  in  sufficient  quantity  to 
be  profitable.  Manicata  aurea,  is,  how- 
ever, a  most  desirable  plant  and  I  have 
yet  to  see  any  place  or  firm  who  have 
had  an  over  supply.  Like  most  varie- 
gated plants  it  is  of  much  slower 
growth  than  the  type.  Few  plants  are 
so  satisfactory  as  a  window  or  house 
plant,  the  dry  air  of  a  room  suiting  it 
fully  as  well  as  the  more  moist  atmos- 
phere of  the  greenhouse.  A  native  of 
Mexico,  it  will  thrive  in  a  high  tempe- 
rature, but  a  winter  heat  of  55  to  60 
degrees  will  keep  it  in  good  order.  To 
bring  out  its  rich  golden  variegation, 
the  leaves  being  always  most  irregu- 
larly marked,  it  should  not  have  very 
rich  soil.  Pot  firmly,  and  except  in 


Begonia  Manicata  Aurea. 


Glorie  de  Lorraine:  A  very  recent 
introduction  bearing  rose  colored 
flowers  and  blooming  the  entire  win- 
ter. 

Gracilis:  Very  fine  summer  flower- 
ing sort. 

Incarnata:  This  name  has  been  dis- 
puted but  I  can  not  find  it  described 
under  another.  It  is  an  erect  growing 
species,  flowers  most  freely  and  is  al- 
ways in  bloom  by  the  holidays,  but  if 
not  cut  then  it  makes  a  beautiful  plant 
when  its  rosy  pink  flowers  are  fully 
developed.  The  variety  incarnata 
grandiflora  is  a  great  improvement  on 
the  species. 

Maculata:  Spotted  leaves  and  hand- 
some drooping  coral  pink  flowers. 

Manicata:  This  has  a  fine,  green 
leaf,  but  is  of  little  value  to  a  florist, 
as  it  occupies  much  room  and  the  flow- 


the  very  hottest  months  it  should  have 
the  full  light.  Its  thick,  fleshy,  crook- 
ed stems  are  slow  to  branch,  and  pro- 
pagation by  shoots  is  too  slow,  but  it 
will  propagate  from  sections  of  the 
leaf  precisely  as  do  the  Rex  begonias, 
either  by  laying  a  well  developed  leaf 
on  the  sand  and  pegging  it  down, 
making  a  cut  here  and  there  through 
the  mid-ribs  of  the  leaf,  or  by  cutting 
up  the  leaf  into  small  pieces  and  put- 
ting them  in  the  sand.  When  you  be- 
gin steady  firing,  say  in  December, 
is  the  best  time  to  propagate. 

Metallica:  Foliage  very  handsome. 
Pink  and  white  flowers. 

Nitida  alba:  Very  pretty  white 
flowers. 

Rubra:     Large  coral  pink. 

Saundersonii:  Bright  red  flowers; 
a  very  useful  variety  for  cutting. 


Vernon:  A  splendid  bedding  plant. 
Dwarf,  bushy  habit  and  the  plant 
covered  with  pink  and  white  flowers. 
This  variety  does  well  in  the  broad 
sun  and  we  find  it  one  of  the  best  of 
vase  plants.  It  is  easily  raised  from 
seed.  Sown  in  October  it  will  make  a 
fine  bedding  plant  by  the  following 
May.  Fifty  degrees  is  warm  enough 
and  the  plants  should  have  at  all  times 
a  light  bench  or  shelf. 

Weltoniensis:  An  old  variety  that 
is  inclined  to  be  herbaceous.  It  does 
well  planted  out  in  summer  and  is 
largely  used  in  vases  and  veranda 
boxes. 

New  varieties  are  being  constantly 
sent  out,  all  worth  trying.  For  the 
amateur  few  plants  are  more  easily 
managed  or  more  interesting  than 
many  of  the  distinct  species. 

Tuberous-Rooted  Section. 

The  tuberous-rooted  section  comes 
from  the  cooler  parts  of  South  Ameri- 
ca and  are  very  distinct  from  the 
shrubby  sorts.  They  are  entirely  de- 
ciduous. They  make  fine  bedding 
plants  as  well  as  splendid  pot  plants 
for  the  greenhouse  from  June  to  Oc- 
tober. As  a  window  plant  they  are 
not  to  be  commended,  soon  dropping 
their  showy  petals.  It  is  as  a  bedding 
plant  they  are  chiefly  valuable.  When 
I  say  that  I  have  seen  in  our  city  large 
beds  of  these  begonias  surpassing  in 
brilliancy  of  color,  and  certainly  in 
variety,  any  bed  of  geraniums,  it  must 
be  recognized  as  a  good  bedding  plant. 
The  cooler  the  summer  the  better  they 
do  and  in  localities  where  the  heat  is 
excessive  they  may  not  be  desirable. 

They  are  easily  raised  from  seed, 
which  should  be  sown  in  January  or 
February.  The  seed  of  all  begonias  is 
very  minute  and  no  covering  of  the 
seed  with  soil  can  be  done.  Water  the 
soil  in  the  pan  well  before  sowing  and 
then  sow  on  the  surface,  covering  the 
pan  with  a  pane  of  glass  till  the  seed 
germinates.  When  large  enough  to 
handle  prick  out  the  seedlings  into 
flats,  keeping  them  on  a  light  shelf, 
and  when  grown  so  as  to  be  nearly 
touching  put  into  2-inch  pots  and  grow 
on.  The  seedlings  hardly  make  bed- 
ding plants  the  first  year,  but  can  be 
planted  on  a  good  piece  of  soil  and 
will  make  fine  bulbs  for  the  succeed- 
ing year.  When  the  tops  are  killed, 
before  there  is  any  danger  of  frost 
at  the  root  they  should  be  lifted,  dried 
in  a  sunny  place  and  then  stored  away 
in  some  perfectly  dry  material  ^dry 
sand  will  do),  till  it  is  time  to  start 
them  again  in  the  spring. 

For  the  busy  florist  it  is,  however, 
advisable  to  leave  the  raising  of  seed- 
lings to  the  specialist  who  grows  them 
by  the  hundred  thousand  and  be  con- 
tent with  buying  the  dormant  roots 
each  year.  It  is  cheaper,  for  the  price 
is  now  lower  than  you  could  afford  to 
raise  them  for.  The  double  varieties 
are  about  twice  as  costly  as  the  single 
ones  and  are  no  more  effective  as  bed- 
ding plants. 

The  middle  of  March  is  early  enough 
to  start  them,  which  is  best  done  by 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


33 


putting  the  tubers  into  flats  of  sandy 
soil.  Half  leaf-mould  and  half  sand  is 
a  good  mixture  and  two  inches  of  it  in 
the  flats  is  enough.  Place  the  tubers 
just  below  the  surface  and  an  inch 
apart.  We  place  the  flats  on  the  hot- 
water  pipes  and  remove  to  the  bench 
as  soon  as  the  young  leaves  are  show- 
ing. By  middle  of  April  the  leaves 
will  be  crowding  and  every  tuber  will 
have  made  a  mass  of  roots.  There  is 
now  only  one  place  for  the  plants  and 
that  is  a  mild  hot-bed.  No  great  heat 
is  needed.  We  pot  into  4-inch  and 
plunge  in  the  bed.  By  middle  of  May 
the  glass  can  be  removed  except  on 
cold  nights.  By  this  method  you  will 
have  fine,  sturdy  plants  inured  to  the 
weather  and  broad  sun  and  they  will 
receive  no  check  when  bedded  out. 

As  a  bedding  plant  they  need  lots  of 
water  and  for  that  reason  the  beds 
should  not  be  rounded  up,  but  should, 
be  flat  so  that  the  water  will  soak  in 
and  not  run  off  to  the  sides  to  nourish 
the  grass.  They  should  not  be  water- 
ed overhead  as  you  would  a  bed  of 
geraniums,  but  the  hose,  running  an 
unobstructed  stream,  should  be  guided 
among  the  plants.  I  said  unobstructed 
because  the  different  kinds  of  sprayers 
and  attachments  they  have  for  spray- 
ing with  a  hose  are  an  abomination  to 
a  gardener.  A  good  light  soil  into  which 
has  been  dug  a  liberal  dressing  of  rot- 
ten cow  manure  will  suit  the  begonias. 

Plants  grown  in  pots  want  a  liberal 
sized  pot  and  plenty  of  air,  and  to  do 
them  well  they  should  be  shaded  only 
from  the  brightest  sun.  Few  insects 
trouble  the  begonias. 


Bed  of  Begonias. 

Rex  Section. 

Begonia  Rex:  The  Rex  or  leaf  be- 
gonias were  a  great  and  expensive 
novelty  when  first  introduced  some  50 
years  ago,  but  are  now  so  common 
they  are  worth  no  more  than  a  gerani- 
um. Occasionally  you  see  one  in  the 
window  of  a  humble  dwelling,  giving 
the  passer-by  a  full  view  of  its  fine 
leaves,  so  it  can  not  be  a  very  poor 
house  plant. 

Nicholson's  Dictionary  says  this 
handsome  species  of  begonia  was  in- 
troduced into  Europe  from  Assam  in 
1858.  With  due  respect  to  that  grand 
work  I  can  swear  I  saw  a  small  plant 
introduced  into  a  private  garden  from 
London  as  early  as  1856,  at  the  modest 
cost  of  $5.00  a  leaf.  There  were  two 
leaves  on  the  plant.  But  this  is  of 
little  consequence. 

Besides  being  a  fine  decorative  plant 
for  the  conservatory  it  is  very  effect- 
ive in  vases  and  veranda  boxes  where 
not  exposed  to  the  afternoon  sun,  their 
large  leaves  having  a  striking  effect. 
It  is  really  a  tough  plant  even  if  it  is 
royal.  A  good  light  loam  with  plenty 
of  leaf-mould  and  rotten  manure  will 
grow  it  finely.  It  likes  more  shade 
than  the  shrubby  section,  in  fact  will 
grow  in  very  shady  positions,  and  lux- 
uriates in  a  warm,  moist  atmosphere. 
It  can  be  syringed  daily,  contrary  to 
general  practice,  and  delights  in  it. 

There  are  two  methods  of  propaga- 
tion. Either  will  do.  You  can  cut  the 
leaf  (a  mature,  but  by  no  means  an 
old  yellow  one)  into  pieces  two  or 
three  inches  long,  cutting  the  pieces 
wedge  shaped  to  a  mid-rib  and  putting 


upright  half  their  length  in  warm 
sand;  or,  the  entire  leaf  can  be  laid 
right  side  up  on  the  surface  of  the 
sand,  pegging  the  leaf  down  close  to 
the  sand,  having  previously  cut 
through  from  the  underside  at  every 
inch  or  two  the  principal  nerves  or 
ribs  of  the  leaf.  In  the  last  named 
method  the  young  plants  will  spring 
from  the  ends  of  the  cuts.  As  with 
those  struck  the  other  way  keep  well 
shaded  when  first  potted.  If  plants 
are  wanted  for  spring  sales  the  leaves 
should  be  put  in  as  soon  as  firing  com- 
mences, as  it  will  take  them  all  winter 
to  make  useful  plants  by  the  following 
May. 

BELLIS. 

The  perennial  daisy  is  a  favorite 
garden  plant  with  many  and  some  of 
the  improved  varieties  are  grown 
under  glass,  in  a  cool  house,  for  cut- 
ting. But  we  have  so  many  better 
flowers  for  all  purposes  that  as  cut 
flowers  they  are  little  used. 

We  are  frequently  asked  for  plants 
in  the  early  spring  as  we  are  for  pan- 
sies.  They  are  easily  divided  either 
in  spring  or  fall.  The  commercial  man 
who  has  need  to  grow  them  had  bet- 
ter divide  the  roots  in  September, 
plant  in  a  cold-frame  a  few  inches 
apart  and  cover  with  glass  during  the 
coldest  months. 

There  are  many  fine  varieties,  red, 
pink  and  white. 

BILLBERGIA. 

See  Bromeliads. 


34 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


BOSTON  IVY. 
See  Ampelopsis. 

BOTTLE  BRUSH. 

See  Metrosideros. 

BOTTOM  HEAT. 

In  all  cultural  notes  there  is  more  or 
less  occasion  to  refer  to  bottom  heat. 
There  was  a  time  when  few  cuttings 
were  thought  to  root  well  without  the 
aid  of  bottom  heat  unless  it  was  the 
cuttings  of  the  ericas  and  conifers. 
Practice  has  taught  us  that  to  have  the 
heat  of  the  sand  or  propagating  ma- 
terial greater  than  the  temperature  of 


well  if  well  laid  in  cement.  Heat  and 
moisture  quickly  rot  wood,  so  use 
brick,  and  a  few  inches  from  the  top, 
according  to  the  purpose  for  which  you 
want  to  use  the  bed,  lay  in,  or  rather 
build  in,  some  strong  strips  of  iron. 
A  strip  two  inches  by  half  an  inch  will 
bear  a  good  weight  of  sand  if  the  bed 
is  not  more  than  3  feet  wide  and  will 
give  a  good  bearing  for  the  slates.  If 
6  feet  wide  you  must  have  a  center 
support  for  the  irons,  and  1-inch  gas 
pipe  with  1-inch  uprights  every  3  feet 
will  do  well  for  that.  Your  cross  strips 
should  not  be  more  than  a  foot  apart. 
If  you  want  bottom  heat  don't  at- 
tempt to  get  it  through  a  1-inch  board. 


Bougainvillea  Sanderiana. 


the  house  is  with  many  cuttings  en- 
tirely unnecessary.  Ten  or  fifteen  de- 
grees hotter  will  certainly  hasten  the 
rooting  of  most  of  our  soft-wooded 
plants,  and  with  some  it  is  a  decided 
advantage  while  with  others  (carna- 
tions and  geraniums  for  instance)  it 
is  not  desirable. 

Where  bottom  heat  is  essential  there 
is  no  way  so  inexpensive  or  durable 
as  having  the  hot-water  or  steam 
pipes  under  the  benches  and  inclosed 
so  that  the  heat  will  remain  under 
them.  The  hot-bed  (primitive  green-, 
house)  is  ideal  as  a  means  of  afford- 
ing bottom  heat,  but  it  is  of  short  du- 
ration, being  available  only  during 
the  spring  and  summer  months  and  is 
always  liable  to  neglect.  Years  ago 
in  growing  plants  requiring  bottom 
heat  many  a  day  was  laboriously  spent 
in  carting  into  the  houses  tan-bark, 
leaves  and  other  fermenting  material 
to  afford  heat  to  plants.  That,  how- 
ever, is  past  and  only  the  hot-water 
and  steam  pipes  are  now  used. 

Whether  it  be  for  the  propagating 
bench  or  for  plunging  plants  that  re- 
quire bottom  heat  let  the  walls  of  the 
bed  or  bench,  be  of  brick.  A  4-inch 
brick  wall  back  and  front  will  do  very 


Wood  is  one  of  the  poorest  conductors 
of  heat  and  slate  is  one  of  the  best. 
Half-inch  slates  (or  thicker)  in  large 
slabs  are  very  expensive.  For  a  propa- 
gating bench  roofing  slate  24x12  will 
do  very  well  and  will  last  for  years  if 
you  support  it  in  the  middle  by  having 
one  of  the  iron  strips  every  foot. 

If  all  your  heating  pipes  are  under 
the  bench  it  will  be  necessary  to  have 
sliding  openings  in  the  wall  to  let  out 
some  heat  in  very  cold  weather,  but 
in  most  houses  there  will  be  an  inde- 
pendent pipe  with  which  you  regulate 
the  atmospheric  temperature.  Don't 
use  wood  for  these  beds.  Use  brick, 
iron  and  slate,  and  in  ten  years  you 
will  have  saved  money  and  much  vex- 
ation. 

BOUGAINVILLEA. 

The  most  useful  species  of  bougain- 
villea  is  the  well  known  glabra,  which 
makes  a  fine  greenhouse  climber  in 
any  house  where  the  temperature  does 
not  go  below  50  degrees  at  night.  The 
flower  is  inconspicuous;  it  is  the 
showy  rosy  purple  bracts  of  the  flowers 
that  give  the  plants  such  an  ornament- 
al appearance.  Long  sprays  of  the 
bougainvillea  covered  with  these 


showy  bracts  are  of  great  value  for 
decorations. 

The  plant  should  be  in  a  large  pot  or 
tub,  or  may  be  planted  out  in  the  bor- 
der, but  where  it  has  unlimited  root 
room  it  grows  too  freely  and  does  not 
flower  so  well.  During  winter  the  sup- 
ply of  water  can  be  diminished  till  the 
plants  start  growing  again  in  March, 
at  which  time  the  plants  can  be  cut 
back  to  within  a  few  eyes  of  the  previ- 
ous year's  growth. 

The  variety  of  glabra  known  as 
Sanderiana  begins  to  flower  when  very 
small  and  is  much  the  best  for  plants 
of  medium  size  in  pots.  We  were  very 
successful  in  flowering  plants  of  this 
the  past  spring  but  are  disappointed  in 
it  as  a  house  plant.  The  great  majority 
of  our  flowering  plants  are  sold  to 
people  who  want  them  for  their  win- 
dows or  rooms  and  unless  a  plant  has 
fair  keeping  qualities  under  such  con- 
ditions it  will  never  be  popular.  The 
bracts  of  B.  Sanderiana,  while  hang- 
ing on  the  plants  for  months  in  the 
greenhouse  soon  drop  with  the  leaves 
when  removed  to  the  dry  heat  of  the 
living  room. 

The  following  is  our  practice  and 
plants  of  various  shapes,  averaging 
two  feet  above  the  pot  and  eighteen 
inches  across  were  covered  with  the 
flowers  and  bracts.  Cuttings  made 
from  the  young  growths  strike  freely 
in  the  sand  in  January  or  February. 
The  first  year  they  are  planted  out  in 
light  rich  soil  out  of  doors,  where 
they  make  a  vigorous  growth.  They 
are  potted  in  the  fall  and  kept  rather 
cool  and  dry  the  following  winter.  In 
the  spring  they  are  put  into  5  or  6-inch 
pots  and  plunged  outside  where  they 
make  a  moderate  but  rather  firm 
growth.  Before  there  is  any  danger  of 
frost  they  are  removed  to  the  green- 
house and  are  kept  in  a  light  house 
with  a  night  temperature  of  about  50 
degrees.  In  January  we  move  them 
into  a  warmer  house  (about  60  de- 
grees) and  begin  to  syringe  them  and 
give  more  water.  The  flower  should 
soon  appear  on  the  growth  of  the  pre- 
vious summer. 

When  growing  or  flowering  they  like 
an  abundance  of  water  and  the  soil 
should  always  be  in  a  condition  that 
will  allow  the  water  to  pass  freely 
away.  Good  fibrous  loam  with  a  little 
leaf-mould  or  old  decomposed  hot-bed 
material  suits  them  well. 

I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  say 
that  this  old  hot-bed  material  is  of 
great  service  and  it  is  one  of  the  rea- 
sons we  like  to  put  up  a  few  dozen 
sash  each  year.  There  can  be  little 
ammonia  left  in  the  manure,  but  the 
manure  with  the  soil  and  leaves,  and 
perhaps  refuse  hops,  thoroughly  de- 
composed and  well  mixed  together,  is 
an  excellent  thing  to  add  to  the  com- 
post for  nearly  all  our  soft-wooded 
plants  and  takes  the  place  of  leaf- 
mould  with  our  hard-wooded  ones.  It 
must  be  the  excellent  mechanical  con- 
dition more  than  the  fertilizing  quali- 
ties that  makes  it  so  valuable  an  ad- 
dition to  all  our  soils. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


35 


BOUVARDIA. 

The  bouvardia  can  be  classed  as  al- 
most a  tropical  plant,  most  of  the  spe- 
cies coming  from  Southern  Mexico  and 
South  America.  The  hybrids  of  some 
of  these  species  are  what  are  of  value 
to  the  florist.  Twenty  years  ago  the 
bouvardia  was  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  plants  we  grew,  but  -.if  late 
years,  with  the  advent  of  long- 
stemmed  carnations,  the  wonderful 
roses,  the  chrysanthemum  and  other 
more  durable  flowers,  the  bouvardias 
have  been  much  less  grown,  and  in 
commercial  places  they  generally  oc- 
cupy but  a  small  place,  if  any,  notwith- 
standing they  are  beautiful  and  easily 
grown,  and  that  the  flower  has  grace 
and  refinement.  In  these  days  of  keen 
competition,  the  question  is,  "Do  they 
pay?"  That  you  must  judge  by  ex.peri- 
ence  in  your  own  locality. 

The  best  time  to  begin  propagation 
is  early  March,  with  the  roots  of 
plants  that  have  been  grown  on  a 
bench  for  winter  flowering.  The  bou- 
vardia roots  very  slowly  and  unsatis- 
factorily from  the  young  top  growths, 
and  in  ordinary  practice  that  is  not 
considered  a  practical  method  of  pro- 
pagating this  plant.  We  will  begin 
with  the  young  roots.  Don't  take  the 
large  roots  near  the  base  of  the  plants, 
nor  the  thin,  thread-like  roots  of  the 
widest  growth.  Choose  the  growths 
between  these.  Cut  them  into  pieces 
about  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  an 
inch  in  length  and  distribute  them  on 
a  propagating  bench,  where  you  have 
a  good  heat,  as  you  would  coarse  seed, 
pressing  them  into  the  sand.  Then 
cover  with  at  least  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  of  sand,  pressing  it  down  after 
covering.  Water  sufficiently  to  keep 
moist,  about  as  you  would  other  cut- 
tings. In  three  or  four  weeks  young 
plants  will  be  springing  up.  When 
they  have  made  two  or  three  leaves 
and  are  an  inch  high,  lift  them  from 
the  sand  and  pot  into  2-inch  pots. 

The  bouvardia  is  a  tropical  plant 
and  at  no  stage  of  its  existence  should 
it  be  exposed  to  a  low  temperature. 
This  accounts  for  the  very  different 
treatment  we  give  it  from  what  is 
considered  right  in  Western  Europe. 
Plant  out  in  the  open  ground  about 
the  first  of  June,  or  earlier,  if  you  are 
in  a  latitude  where  no  late  frosts  ap- 
pear. A  very  light,  rich  soil  is  much 
the  best  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
bouvardia.  Unless  there  is  a  very  long 
spell  of  hot,  dry  weather,  no  watering 
is  needed  after  the  first  good  watering 
when  planted.  The  growth  that  has 
started  in  the  greenhouse  will  continue 
to  grow  out  of  doors,  but  that  is  of 
little  consequence,  and  can  before  lift- 
ing be  entirely  cut  away.  It  is  the 
strong,  vigorous  growth  that  will 
spring  from  the  roots  after  being 
planted  out  that  you  will  depend  on  to 
give  you  flowers.  They  want  stopping 
about  twice  during  the  summer. 

The  lifting  time  will  vary  according 
to  where  you  are.  In  Buffalo  we  used 
to  lift  about  the  second  week  in  Sep- 
tember. If  later,  and  the  weather 


should  be  cold,  they  are  much  slower 
in  taking  hold  of  the  soil  in  their  new 
quarters.  A  very  good  plan  is  to  do 
the  last  pinching  a  week  or  so  before 
you  lift  them.  The  break  from  this 
last  stopping  will  then  come  in  about 
right  for  the  holidays.  Plant  in  five 
inches  of  good  loam,  and  as  to  dis- 
tance apart,  be  guided  by  size  of  the 
plants.  A  foot  apart  is  little  enough 
for  any  of  them.  Anybody,  with  al- 
most any  temperature,  can  get  the  first 
crop  of  bouvardia,  but  to  get  them  to 
make  a  growth  and  a  profitable  crop 
of  flowers  again  in  March  requires 
heat.  Unless  they  are  kept  in  a  night 
temperature  of  at  least  60  degrees  and 
syringed  daily,  they  will  just  stand 
still  after  their  first  crop  is  over.  The 
rampant  way  they  grow  and  flower 
when  the  warm  sun  of  April  comes 
shows  you  what  they  want. 

They  can,  of  course,  be  grown  in 
pots,  but  do  far  better  and  are  more 
easy  to  manage  planted  on  a  bench  in 
a  light  warm  house. 

If  after  the  end  of  March  you  need 
the  bench  for  some  other  crop  you  can 
cut  down  the  bouvardias  to  within  a 
few  inches  of  the  bench,  lift  them, 
shaking  off  all  the  soil,  and  place  them 
close  together  in  flats  with  three  or 
four  inches  of  moist  soil  around  them 
and  put  under  a  bench  where  there  is 
not  much  drip,  and  they  will  do  there 
all  right  till  planting  out  time.  The 
old  plants  will  of  course  be  much  lar- 
ger than  those  propagated  the  first 
year. 

Red  spider  attacks  them,  and  so  does 
mealy  bug,  but  their  presence  is  in- 
excusable, for  a  proper  use  of  the  hose 
will  prevent  both.  Green  fly  will  ap- 
pear if  fumigation  is  neglected,  but  be 
careful  to  smoke  lightly,  particularly 
when  the  plants  are  first  housed,  for 
they  burn  readily. 

.  In  lifting,  I  cannot  say  as  you  can 
about  carnations,  "let  all  the  soil  tum- 
ble off  if  it  will,  so  long  as  I  save  ev- 
ery fibre,"  for  they  do  not  lift  so  well, 
or  rather,  do  not  recuperate  so  quickly. 
Lift  carefully  with  a  good  ball  of  earth 
and  for  the  first  week  shade  and  sy- 
ringe frequently. 

BROMELIADS. 

Except  the  variegated  pineapple  (see 
Ananas),  there  are  few  or  none  of 
these  curious  plants  that  are  of  any 
commercial  value,  though  among  them 
are  some  beautiful  and  interesting 
plants.  The  Buffalo  Botanical  Gardens 
now  possess  the  very  valuable  collec- 
tion brought  together  by  the  late  firm 
of  Pitcher  &  Manda,  with  several  ad- 
ditions, making  it  the  most  complete 
collection  in  this  country,  and  it  is  in 
the  finest  possible  condition. 

Besides  the  ananas,  the  most  famil- 
iar genera  are  the  tillandsia  and  the 
bromelia.  The  leaves  are  stiff,  vari- 
ously colored,  and  fluted  or  concave, 
always  carrying  the  moisture  to  the 
base  of  the  leaf.  The  flowers  are  often 
handsome.  They  are  mostly  from 
tropical  America. 

Propagation  is  by  offsets  or  suckers, 


which,  when  separated  from  the  old 
plant,  should  be  potted  and  plunged  in 
a  good  heat.  They  are  grown  in  pots 
or  baskets,  which  should  be  drained 
with  a  third  of  crocks,  and  the  com- 
post should  be  fern  roots  and  sphag- 
num. They  require  heavy  shade  in  the 
summer  and  must  be  frequently 
syringed.  It  is  the  moist  atmosphere 
they  delight  in. 

By  their  channeled  leaves  they  accu- 
mulate water,  which  remains  in  quan- 
tity at  the  base  of  the  stem,  and  it 
should  not  be  disturbed,  as  it  does  no 
harm.  In  nature  the  water  would 
surely  be  there,  and  in  this  respect  at 
least  we  cannot  improve  on  nature.  A 
compost  such  as  described,  plenty  of 
moisture,  and  a  minimum  winter  tem- 
perature of  70  degrees,  is  what  they 
want.  Following  are  named  some  of 
the  most  distinct  genera  and  species: 

Tillandsia  utriculata  and  T.  fene- 
stralis. 

Guzmania  fragrans  and  G.  tricolor. 

Aechmea  fulgens  and  A.  crocophylla. 

Karatis  spectabilis  and  K.  Moritzia- 
num. 

Vriesia   musaica   and   V.    splendens. 

Billbergia  zebriha. 

For  the  culture  of  the  variegated 
pineapple  (Ananas  sativa  variegata), 
see  Ananas. 

BROWALLIA. 

The  best  known  species  is  elata  of 
which  there  are  two  varieties.  One  has 
white  flowers  but  the  variety  grandi- 
flora  is  a  fine  blue.  They  are  often 
used  as  flower  garden  plants  but  are 
more  suitable  for  the  mixed  border  as 
they  are  liable  to  go  out  of  bloom  just 
when  their  color  is  most  needed. 

For  the  flower  garden  sow  the  seed 
in  March  and  transplant  into  flats  or 
small  pots  and  plant  after  all  danger 
of  frost.  As  a  pot  plant  for  winter 
use  (and  they  will  flower  during  our 
darkest  days)  sow  in  July  and  August. 
A  pan  six  or  seven  inches  across  and 
four  inches  deep  with  half  a  dozen 
plants  makes  a  nice  show  and  many  of 
them  could  be  sold  as  Christmas 
plants.  When  once  established  in  the 
pans  they  are  better  kept  out  of  doors 
in  a  frame  and  given  the  open  air  but 
covered  with  glass  in  case  of  a  storm. 
They  must  be  syringed  daily  and  will 
need  pinching  once  or  twice  to  induce 
them  to  branch.  Remove  to  the  green- 
house before  any  danger  of  frost. 

BULBS. 

Under  this  head,  instead  of  under 
their  respective  names,  is  given  the 
culture  of  those  bulbs  that  are  gen- 
erally forced,  especially  those  known 
as  Dutch  bulbs,  and  which  have  been 
so  important  an  item  with  us  for  the 
past  twenty  years. 

Roots  that  are  often  called  bulbs  are 
really  corms  and  not  bulbs.  The  cro- 
cus, caladium,  richardia  and  gladiolus 
are  corms.  The  true  bulbs  are  the  lily, 
hyacinth,  tulip,  etc.  It  is  only  of  the 
Dutch  bulbs  that  this  article  treats. 

The  tulip,  hyacinth  and  narcissus  all 
want  about  the  same  treatment,  with 


36 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


some  variation,  which  will  be  noted. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  lilies  (or 
what  may  be  called  the  loose-scaled 
bulbs)  are  subject  to  injury  through 
being  long  exposed  to  the  air,  and  they 
really  should  not  be  long  in  a  perfectly 
dormant  state.  Notice  the  Lilium  can- 
didum  in  our  gardens.  Soon  after  the 
flower  stalk  is  gone  the  plant  begins  to 
throw  up  a  young  crop  of  leaves,  show- 
ing it  is  but  a  short  time  dormant,  if  at 
all.  Not  so  with  the  more  fleshy  bulbs, 
like  tulips,  which  remain  out  of  the 
ground  four  or  five  months  without  the 
slightest  harm. 


bed,  as  desired.  If  lifted,  the  tops 
should  be  about  ripe  before  the  bulbs 
are  disturbed.  If  lifted  as  soon  as  the 
flower  is  faded,  you  have  arrested  the 
formation  of  the  bulb  that  was  stor- 
ing up  its  strength  for  the  following 
year. 

The  early  tulips  and  hyacinths  bloom 
with  us  early  in  May.  As  our  bedding 
plants  do  not  go  out  till  nearly  or 
quite  June  1,  there  is  nearly  time  to 
give  the  bulbs  a  chance  to  mature. 
Two  weeks  later,  however,  would  be 
much  better  if  the  welfare  of  the  bulbs 
was  the  main  consideration.  When 


Single  Tulips. 


Bulbs  for  Bedding. 

The  hyacinth,  tulip  and  hardy  nar- 
cissus are  usually  planted  in  the  open 
ground  in  October  and  November. 
They  should  always  be  planted  a  good 
six  inches  deep.  The  closer  together 
the  better  the  effect.  A  thinly  planted 
tulip  bed  looks  badly  and  is  not  worth 
doing.  I  call  a  foot  apart  thin.  Six 
inches  apart  will  make  a  gorgeous  bed. 
Any  soil  will  flower  the  bulbs  one  year, 
for  the  flower  bud  is  already  formed; 
it  merely  opens  with  you.  But  to  grow 
them  so  that  they  will  flower  again  the 
following,  or  third  or  fourth,  year,  a 
good,  deep,  rich  soil  should  be  given 
them. 

The  great  majority  of  our  bulbs 
when  planted  to  succeed  the  flower 
garden  plants  are  intended  to  flower 
only  one  year,  and  that  suits  the  florist 
who  supplies  the  bulbs  very  well,  but 
that  is  no  reason  why  the  bulbs  should 
be  neglected  or  thrown  away.  The 
bulbs  may  either  be  lifted  or  left  in  the 


first  lifted,  expose  the  bulbs  and  tops 
to  the  air  till  they  are  ripe  and  the 
tops  wither  away,  when  the  tops  can 
be  pulled  off,  the  bulbs  cleaned,  and 
stored  away  in  a  dry,  cool  place  till 
fall.  I  noticed  this  spring  about  as 
good  flowers  produced  by  tulips  the 
second  year  as  by  those  freshly  im- 
ported. The  bulbs  will  do  very  well 
if  left  in  the  ground,  which  it  is  some- 
times convenient  to  do,  in  the  mixed 
border,  for  instance.  If  in  beds,  you 
can  sow  some  summer  annuals  over 
them,  such  as  California  poppy,  with- 
out much  harm. 

There  are  always  some  inquiries  as 
to  "When  shall  I  cover  my  tulip  bed?" 
These  and  the  hyacinths  are  perfectly 
hardy  and  no  covering  is  necessary  till 
Christmas,  when  two  or  three  inches  of 
stable  manure  or  litter  can  be  put  on 
the  bed.  It  helps  not  so  much  to  keep 
fro;t  out  as  to  prevent  the  surface  from 
continuously  alternating  between  a 
freeze  and  a  thaw,  which  often  occurs 
in  the  month  of  March. 


In  planting  a  bed  of  bulbs  to  any  set. 
pattern  or  design,  look  out  for  time  of 
flowering  of  the  several  sorts.  Crocus 
are  always  best  alone  and  should  not 
be  used  with  the  tulips  and  hyacinths. 
Von  Sion  narcissus  is  about  as  early 
as  the  hyacinths,  which  are  several 
days  ahead  of  the  earliest  tulips,  and 
should  not  be  in  the  same  group.  The 
early  single  tulips  (except  Due  Van 
Thol,  which  should  not  be  used)  all 
flower  about  the  same  day  and  go  well 
together.  The  early  double  tulips  are 
all  right  with  the  early  single  tulips. 
We  noticed  La  Candeur,  the  inexpen- 
sive double  white,  planted  with  the 
early  tulips.  That  was  a  mistake,  as  it 
is  ten  days  later  than  the  early  tulips. 
If  a  double  white  is  needed  with  the 
single  varieties,  Murillo  is  the  sort;  it 
is  early,  and  a  grand  flower.  Yellow 
Prince,  Chrysolora,  La  Belle  Alliance, 
all  the  Pottebakkers,  La  Reine,  Keiz- 
erskroon,  Proserpine,  Vermillion  Bril- 
liant, Cottage  Maid,  Tournesol,  in  fact, 
all  the  early  single  and  double  tulips, 
can  be  planted  in  one  combination  and 
will  make  a  fine  display.  The  little 
blue  scilla  can  'be  planted  with  the 
crocus.  It  blooms  with  the  crocus, 
soon  after  the  snow  is  gone. 

Bulbs  for  Forcing. 

Within  25  years,  and  with  many 
more  recently,  the  forcing  of  tulips, 
hyacinths  and  narcissus  has  become 
a  most  important  part  of  our  winter 
operations.  About  12  years  ago  it 
was  at  its  zenith,  but  as  the  best 
methods  of  forcing  became  widely 
known  and  in  consequence  vast  quan- 
tities were  imported  and  the  blooms 
thrown  on  the  market  the  public  be- 
gan to  tire  of  the  flowers  till  during 
the  last  few  years  they  have  dropped 
seriously  in  price,  and  during  the 
last  winter  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
fine  flowers  were  sold  at  about  the 
cost  of  the  bulbs.  We  predict  a  much 
smaller  importation  each  year. 

These  remarks  do  not  apply  to  the 
good  old  Dutch  hyacinth  that  we 
grow  in  a  4-inch  pot.  They  have  been 
grown  in  pots  and  glasses  for  a  hun- 
dred years  and  always  will  be.  There 
are  few  sweeter  flowers  for  the  price 
than  a  nice  spike  of  hyacinth.  Peo- 
ple know  them  and  don't  ask  "How 
long  will  they  last?"  They  think 
rightly  that  they  have  received  good 
value  for  their  money  if  they  have 
had  a  pot  of  hyacinth  in  their  win- 
dow for  ten  days.  Large  quantities 
of  fine  hyacinths  are  also  grown  for 
Easter  in  pans,  from  three  to  a,  dozen 
in  a  pan.  The  latter  quantity  of  some 
fine  distinct  variety  in  a  12-inch  pan 
is  a  rich  affair  and  generally  attracts 
the  purchaser  who  is  looking  for 
something  nice  to  send  his  or  her 
friend  on  Easter  morn.  The  Von  Sion 
narcissus,  or  daffodils  as  they  are 
familiarly  called,  make  also  fine  pans. 

Roman  hyacinths  are  still  flowered 
in  immense  quantities  and  fashion 
has  not  changed  the  demand.  They  are 
graceful,  waxy  white  flowers  and  can 
be  used  in  several  ways,  either  by 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


37 


Dutch  Hyacinths. 


themselves  or  in  combination  with 
roses,  violets  or  carnations. 

If  you  want  tulips  or  Von  Sions, 
Paper  white  narcissus  or  Roman  hya- 
cinths at  the  earliest  possible  date 
they  can  be  got  in  flower  you  should 
not  delay  a  day  in  getting  a  portion 
of  your  shipment  into  the  flats,  and 
they  should  be  well  watered  and  cov- 
ered at  once.  The  Romans  arrive  in 
August,  the  Paper  White  a  little  later 
and  the  tulips,  hyacinths  and  Von 
Sions  along  in  September.  As  I  re- 
marked about  the  soil  for  the  beds, 
the  soil,  providing  it  is  of  a  loose  tex- 
ture and  easily  handled,  is  of  little 
consequence.  Heat  and  water  force 
out  the  flower  spike  and  that  is  the 
last  you  care  about  the  bulb.  We 
generally  use  the  soil  that  has  done 
duty  the  previous  year  on  the  carna- 
tion benches. 

I  found  out  many  years  ago  that 
boxes  and  flats  of  every  size  and 
shape  for  forcing  bulbs  was  a  poor 
plan,  however  cheap,  and  for  years 
have  made  boxes  of  one  pattern,  which 
is  24  inches  long,  12  inches  wide  and 


3  inches  deep,  all  inside  measure.  I 
buy  strips  16  feet  long  (any  length 
will  do,  but  you  don't  want  waste),  3 
inches  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick, 
and  some  strips  3  inches  wide  and  1 
inch  thick.  Four  of  the  thin  strips 
make  the  bottom  with  a  little  space 
between  them,  two  of  them  make  the 
sides  and  the  1  inclt  thick  strips  make 
the  ends.  They  are  nailed  together 
with  6-penny  nails,  and  two  or  three 
boys  will  make  150  of  them  in  a  few 
hours.  These  boxes  will  last  several 
years  if  cleaned  out  and  piled  with 
their  bottoms  up,  but  not  if  allowed 
to  lay  around  the  yard  half  full  of 
soil  till  the  following  fall,  or  run  over 
by  the  wagon,  or  when  used  to  carry 
plants  to  a  bedding  job  to  be  left 
there  and  not  called  for. 

Oh,  florists,  I  am  not  immaculate 
myself  in  this  respect,  but  how  many 
dollars  you  do  waste  in  letting  your 
boxes,  pots,  flats,  tools  and  imple- 
ments lie  around  in  disorder.  You 
are  about  as  bad  as  the  slovenly  farm- 
ers in  a  poor,  poverty  stricken  farm- 
ing district  which  is  always  to  be 


found  without  going  very  far.  It  is 
well  known,  and  admitted  by  the  man- 
ufacturer,- that  if  the  American  farmer 
took  good  care  of  his  agricultural  im- 
plements and  tools  half  the  factories 
could  and  would  close  down.  The 
scythe  is  hung  in  the  apple  tree,  the 
plow  is  thrown  out  at  the  end  of  the 
last  furrow  to  bleach  and  rot  in  the 
sun  and  rain,  the  harrow  may  be  dig- 
nified by  being  tilted  up  against  the 
fence,  and  the  costly  reaper  lies  out 
in  the  yard  for  the  children  and  chick- 
ens to  perch  on.  There  is  no  time  to 
clean  and  put  things  away.  The  gos- 
sip of  the  village  smithy  or  rural 
post-office  must  be  attended  to.  The 
prosperous  farmer's  place  is  all  con- 
trary to  this,  and  as  the  florist  is 
farming  on  a  high  grade  and  costly 
plan  where  the  outlay  and  receipts  to 
the  acre  are  enormous,  it  behooves 
him  to  take  care  of  all  his  implements 
and  have  them  ship  shape  and  in  place 
where  they  are  always  ready  to  his 
hand.  j  ,| 

Some  men  can  do  twice  as  much 
on  an  acre  as  another.  It  is  order, 
system  and  cleanliness  that  enables 
him  to  do  it.  "Dirt  is  matter  out  of 
place."  That  is  a  true  definition.  I 
once  found  fault  with  a  man,  who  was 
then  a  partner,  that  his  rubbish  pile 
contained  everything  from  decent  pot- 
ting soil  to  broken  glass,  hoop  iron 
and  empty  beer  bottles.  He  rather 
peevishly  replied  that  he  had  no  tim? 
to  spare  and  was  glad  to  get  rid  of 
the  stuff  out  of  the  greenhouses.  That 
"time"  excuse  is  the  worst  of  all,  and 
the  man  who  lets  his  wagon  stand  out 
in  the  sun  till  the  hubs  are  cracked 
has  always  the  most  time  to  spin  a 
yarn,  or  see  how  much  old  Bill  Jones' 
cows  bring  at  the  auction.  If  my 
friend  had  had  a  pile  for  stuff  that 
was  purely  rubbish  and  another  for 
old  soil  and  plants  and  vegetable 
matter  that  would  come  useful  some 
day  it  would  have  been  much  time 
saved  in  the  end  and  some  money. 

With  this  diversion  we  will  return 
to  the  bulbs.  The  flats  as  described 
will  hold  60  Romans,  50  Paper  White, 
and  from  60  to  72  tulips,  according  to 
the  size.  Yellow  Prince  is  a  large 
bulb,  La  Reine  is  a  small  one.  I  be- 
lieve, as  Mr.  Ernst  Asmus  said  at  Chi- 
cago years  ago,  that  it  makes  little 
difference  in  the  flowering  how  close 
the  bulbs  are.  Even  if  touching  they 
will  flower  all  right,  and  save  room. 

We  always  do  our  bulb  boxing  out- 
side on  a  temporary  bench  where  the 
soil  can  be  brought  to  the  men  by 
the  cart  load.  We  fill  the  flats  nearly 
full,  very  loosely,  and  squeeze  the 
bulb  into  the  soil  till  the  top  of  the 
bulb  is  even  with  the  edge  of  the  box. 
A  few  handfuls  of  soil  fill  up  between 
the  bulbs  and  the  jo'b  is  done.  All  this 
is  a  very  quick  operation.  A  good 
man  will  box  8,000  to  10,000  a  day  if 
supplied  with  boxes  and  soil  and  an- 
other man  to  take  the  boxes  away 
when  filled. 

Bulb  houses  have  been  spoken  of, 
but  I  never  saw  the  need  of  them. 
We  once  tried  our  earliest  tulips  un- 


38 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


der  the  bench  of  a  very  cool  house, 
covered  with  an  inch  of  soil.  It  was 
an  entire  failure.  There  is  no  better 
place  for  the  flats  when  filled  than 
the  surface  of  the  open  ground.  We 
smooth  off  a  piece  of  ground  and  lay 
out  beds  six  or  seven  feet  wide  and 
any  desired  length,  leaving  the  same 
width  between  beds.  We  lay  down 
strips  of  old  boards  to  keep  the  bot- 
toms of  the  flats  away  from  the  soil. 
When  one  bed  is  covered  with  flats 
we  get  out  the  hose  and  thoroughly 
water  the  soil  in  the  boxes.  When 
the  water  has  soaked  in  we  dig  up  the 
ground  between  the  beds  and  cover 
the  bulbs  with  this  soil  about  three 


In  many  years  we  have  never  had 
any  difficulty  in  getting  them  in  to 
force.  A  mild  day  is  sure  to  come 
and  you  can  then  get  in  enough  for 
several  weeks,  keeping  some  of  them 
in  reserve  in  a  cool  shed.  If  unpro- 
tected by  snow  and  the  covering  of 
soil  is  frozen  we  bring  in  covering 
and  alj  and  clean  them  off  when 
thawed  out.  Out  of  doors  is  their 
natural  place  and  I  believe  it  is  better 
for  the  bulbs  to  make  their  roots  there 
than  in  any  house  or  cellar  you  could 
build. 

Paper  White  narcissus  we  do  not 
allow  to  freeze,  giving  them  the  pro- 
tection of  glass  in  addition  to  the  ma- 


Hyacinths  in  Basket,  trimmed  with  White  Ribbon. 


inches  deep.  We  never  cut  down  the 
soil  nearer  than  a  foot  from  the  end 
or  side  of  the  boxes  because  they 
want  to  be  well  protected  there.  The 
frost  is  sure  to  penetrate  into  the 
beds  from,  the  sides,  if  anywhere. 

Nothing  more  is  done  to  the  beds 
for  a  month  or  two,  or  till  severe 
winter  weather  sets  in,  excepting  it 
be  a  very  dry  time.  If  it  is  dry  give 
the  beds  a  thorough  watering  every 
week.  Remember  the  bulbs  are  not 
as  though  they  were  planted  out  and 
they  get  none  of  the  benefit  of  the 
moisture  arising  from  the  depths  of 
the  ground  as  they  would  if  planted 
in  it,  and  the  bulbs  will  not  make 
roots  unless  the  soil  is  kept  moist. 
About  the  middle  of  December  we 
throw  on  about  four  inches  of  stable 
manure.  It  is  just  as  well  to  let  the 
soil  in  the  flats  be  slightly  frozen  be- 
fore covering  with  the  manure,  as  it 
will  stop  the  bulbs  from  growing  up 
too  long.  If  too  much  manure  is  put 
on  it  will  encourage  the  bulbs  to  draw 
up  to  a  great  length  before  spring, 
which  will  greatly  injure  their  hand- 
ling. 


nure,  but  they  are  mostly  into  the 
houses  before  very  hard  weather. 

Roman  hyacinths  will  stand  as 
much  freezing  as  the  tulips,  but  must 
not  be  handled  when  frozen.  If  frozen, 
bring  in  the  whole  covering  with 
them  and  let  them  thaw  out  in  a 
very  cool  shed.  If  when  frozen  they 
are  put  suddenly  into  heat  (as  you 
would  a  tulip)  they  will  be  ruined. 

The  Dutch  hyacinths  in  pots  we 
stand  in  a  frame  on  dry  ashes,  and 
after  covering  with  soil  and  litter 
prefer  to  cover  with  shutters  or  glass 
to  prevent  very  hard  freezing.  Freez- 
ing may  not  hurt  the  bulbs,  but  it 
breaks  the  pots  and  pans. 

Roman  hyacinths  and  Paper  White 
narcissus  can  be  had  in  bloom  from 
the  first  of  November  on.  They  want 
the  light  and  no  extra  heat  at  any 
time.  Both  are  better  when  brought 
on  slowly.  The  Paper  White,  if  well 
rooted,  should  have  seven  weeks  in 
a  light  house  at  a  temperature  of  60 
degrees;  then  it  will  be  in  good  or- 
der for  Christmas.  As  the  season  ad- 
vances Romans  require  less  and  less 
time  under  glass.  During  March  and 


April  two  weeks  in  any  house  will 
bring  them  into  flower. 

The  Von  Sion  narcissus  are  forced 
in  precisely  the  same  way  as  the  tu- 
lips. 

For  years  we  struggled  to  get  tulips 
in  flower  at  Christmas  and  with  the 
Due  Van  Thol,  and  even  with  some 
of  the  finer  early  tulips,  we  were  suc- 
cessful. But  what  is  there  in  it  when 
you  have  succeeded?  There  are  plenty 
of  other  flowers  for  all  purposes,  and 
fancy  trying  to  sell  a  dozen  forced 
and  sickly  tulips  when  a  dozen  fine 
carnations  can  be  had.  So  we  have 
left  tulips  alone  till  after  New 
Year's,  when,  if  brought  in,  they  can 
be  had  in  fine  quality  by  end  of  Jan- 
uary or  a  few  days  'before,  and  that  is 
as  soon  as  they  are  wanted. 

The  earliest  tulips  want  a  strong 
heat;  75  degrees  is  not  too  much,  with 
plenty  of  water,  and  they  need  shad- 
ing with  cheese  cloth  or  some  such 
material  to  produce  a  good  stem.  Up 
to  first  of  March  they  need  heat,  with 
lessening  shade,  after  that  they  flower 
on  any  greenhouse  bench,  the  last 
ones  to  flower  inside  wanting  a  light 
house,  as  they  are  inclined  to  have 
long,  weak  stems. 

The  conditions  to  produce  the  early 
tulips  are  heat,  moisture  and  shade, 
but  not  heat  that  will  burn  the  roots. 
On  the  pipes  is  no  place  for  them;  it 
is  heat  around  the  young  growths  that 
is  wanted,  not  at  the  roots. 

The  varieties  I  mentioned  for  bed- 
ding are  the  very  best  for  forcing. 
When  wanted  for  any  special  date, 
like  Easter,  and  they  are  a  few  days 
too  early  you  can  help  to  keep  the 
tulips  in  good  order  by  putting  the 
flats  under  the  bench  when  the  flow- 
ers are  about  fully  developed  and  cov- 
ering with  paper,  which  prevents  the 
opening  and  closing  that  takes  place 
on  every  fine  sunny  day. 

Hyacinths  in  pots  and  pans  need 
no  forcing  towards  spring,  coming  on 
very  quickly  as  soon  as  brought  into 
the  greenhouse.  It  is  impossible  to 
give  any  fixed  time  to  allow  for  these 
bulbs  to  come  into  flower,  as  seasons 
vary  so  much. 

There  is  an  immense  number  of 
species  and  varieties  of  narcissus. 
Trumpet  major  and  the  Incomparable 
type  all  do  well  if  given  the  same 
treatment  as  the  tulips  and  Von  Sion 
narcissus.  The  Polyanthus  narcissus 
are  beautiful  in  form  and  color  and 
are  fragrant.  They  force  well,  but 
should  not  be  exposed  to  frost  at  any 
time.  They  are  not  profitable  for  the 
commercial  man,  but  are  beautiful  for 
the  private  conservatory.  The  Narcis- 
sus poeticus,  and  its  fine  variety  orna- 
tus,  are  both  hardy  and  force  well, 
and  so  do  the  elegant  sweet  scented 
jonquils. 

CACTUS. 

You  can  walk  through  many  a  green- 
house establishment,  large  and  small, 
without  seeing  a  specimen  of  any  of 
these  curious  plants1,  and  unless  you 
are  a  specialist  you  will  be  wise  to 
leave  them  alone.  The  demand  for 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Paper  White  Narcissus. 


them  is  altogether  too  small.  You 
will,  however,  be  often  asked:  "How 
shall  I  make  my  cactus  flower?"  etc  , 
and  as  the  florist  is  supposed  to  know 
how  to  cultivate  every  green  thing 
it  is  well  to  be  able  to  give  an  intel- 
ligent answer  to  the  old  lady  whose 
uncle  sent  her  the  cactus  in  question 
many  years  ago  from  Mexico. 

Grotesque  and  peculiar  as  the 
growth  of  many  of  the  cacti  is  the 
flowers  of  some,  notably  the  night- 
blooming  cereus  (C.  grandiflorus)  are 
most  gorgeous.  It  lasts  but  one  short 
night,  but  while  open  it  is  almost 
unrivalled  in  its  magnificent  form, 
lovely  colors,  the  beauty  of  its  sta- 
mens and  general  appearance  as  well 
as  great  fragrance. 

The  mammillarias  are  the  most  use- 
ful for  bedding,  making  a  beautiful 
appearance  in  a  bed  of  succulents.  The 
United  States  and  Mexican  species  will 
winter  in  a  very  cool  place  and  need 
little,  if  any,  water  in  the  dark  winter 
days.  All  of  the  tropical  kinds  will 
winter  very  well  in  a  night  tempera- 
ture of  55  degrees,  and  our  summers 
suit  them  well. 

They  are  about  as  easily  grown  in 
a  window  as  they  are  in  the  green- 
house if  proper  care  is  used  in  water- 
ing. Few  if  any  insects  trouble  them. 
Drainage  is  of  first  importance,  and 
neither  in  summer  when  they  are 
growing  nor  in  winter  when  they  are 
at  rest  should  the  soil  ever  remain 
saturated.  So  whatever  the  compost 
be  let  the  pot  or  tub  be  filled  one- 
third  with  broken  crocks  so  that  water 
is  sure  to  pass  off  quickly.  In  winter 
when  little  growth  is  being  made,  es- 
pecially if  you  are  keeping  the  plants 
cool,  water  sufficient  to  keep  the  soil 
from  getting  dust  dry  will  do.  In  April 


and  May  and  through  the  summer,  if 
the  soil  is  well  drained,  you  can  water 
daily. 

The  soil  should  be  a  good  fibrous 
loam  to  which  add  one-fourth  of 
coarse  sand,  and  if  that  is  not  at  hand 
add  some  powdered  bricks  or  old  plas- 
ter crumbled  up.  They  need  little  pot 
room  and  should  not  be  shifted  for 
several  seasons.  All  of  them  would 
do  well  out  of  doors  in  summer  time 
if  convenient  to  put  them  outside,  but 
look  out  for  heavy  rains;  for  those 
that  are  in  pots  or  tubs  too  much 
water  will  rot  the  roots. 

Some  of  the  genera  are  hardy  in  the 
latitude  of  New  York,  but  a  very  se- 
vere winter  will  hurt  them,  and  where 
used  for  bedding  it  is  better  to  lift 
them  and  place  in  flats  and  winter  in 
a  cold  house  or  protected  frame. 

The  most  valuable  of  the  cacti 
grown  for  their  flowers,  and  which 
makes  a  most  showy  winter  flowering 
plant  is  Epiphyllum  truncatum  and 
its  varieties.  It  does  not  make  a  good 
plant  on  its  own  roots,  not  being 
strong  enough  to  stand  erect,  and 
when  a  handsome  little  tree  is  seen 
it  has  been  grafted  on  the  pereskia 
stock.  The  flowers  of  the  epiphyllum 
are  most  numerous  and  its  varieties 
have  colors  varying  from  deep  scarlet 
to  almost  pure  white.  The  type  is  a 
deep  rose  color. 

Like  all  the  cacti  the  epiphyllum 
wants  perfect  drainage  and  must  not 
be  over-potted.  Keep  cool  in  the  late 
fall  months  till  they  begin  to  show 
flower  when  they  should  have  more 
heat  till  the  flowers  are  fully  expand- 
ed and  can  then  be  removed  to  a  cool 
house  which  will  prolong  the  life  of 
the  flowers. 

The  operation  of  grafting  the  epi- 


phyllum on  the  pereskia  is  very  sim- 
ple. Pieces  ef  the  pereskia  of  any  de- 
sired length  will  root  in  moderately 
moist  sand.  When  potted  off  and  es- 
tablished in  pots  the  top  of  the  stem 
is  split  for  an  inch  or  so,  a  branch  of 
the  epiphyllum  inserted,  and  nothing 
more  is  to  be  done  except  to  tie  a 
piece  of  raffia  around  the  stem  to 
keep  the  graft  in  place,  and  this  must 
be  removed  as  soon  as  adhesion  takes 
place,  which  will  be  soon  if  the  plants 
are  kept  in  a  warm  moist  house. 

CALADIUM. 

Most  ornamental  leaved  hot-house 
plants  that  are  grown  entirely  for 
their  beautiful  leaves,  which  are  of 
almost  every  hue.  Although  strictly 
a  tropical  plant  they  are  most  useful 
for  decorations  in  the  months  of  Au- 
gust and  September,  after  their 
growth  is  fully  matured.  They  lose 
their  beautiful  leaves  in  the  winter 
and  must  rest  till  the  following  March 
or  April. 

There  are  several  species,  of  which 
we  all  remember  argyrites  as  one  of 
the  oldest  and  prettiest  with  its  small 
silvery  marked  leaf.  The  almost  in- 
numerable varieties  that  are  now  cul- 
tivated are  hybrids  and  surpass  in 
beauty  the  original  species.  The  tu- 
bers can  be  bought  at  a  very  reason- 
able price  from  any  good  commercial 
house. 

Their  cultivation  is  easy.  The  tubers 
can  be  placed  in  3  or  4-inch  pots  in 
March  in  a  temperature  of  60  to  65 
degrees.  A  little  bottom  heat  will 
much  help  their  starting.  Water 
sparingly  till  they  begin  to  root.  When 
a  few  leaves  are  made  they  can  be 
shifted  on.  A  6-inch  pot  will  grow 
a  fine  specimen,  but  they  are  seen  oc- 
casionally of  immense  size  in  12-inch 
pots.  Many  will  rememiber  the  dozen 
or  more  plants  exhibited  at  the  New 
York  convention  in  1888  from  Woot- 
ton,  Philadelphia.  They  were  grand. 

While  growing  they  should  have  our 
hottest  houses,  a  little  shade,  a  moist 
atmosphere  and  abundance  of  water; 
the  pots  should  be  drained  so  that 
water  passes  freely  through.  Liberal 
treatment  as  to  size  of  pot  is  a  re- 
quirement. The  soil  can  be  a  good 
loam,  rather  coarse,  with  a  fourth  of 
leaf-mould  and  rotten  manure. 

In  October  they  show  signs  of  going 
to  rest  and  water  should  then  be  with- 
held, but  not  all  at  once.  Keep  the 
soil  moderately  moist  till  the  leaves 
have  about  gone,  when  you  can  lay 
the  pots  on  their  sides  under  a  bench 
in  a  warm  house.  A  good  many  fine 
caladium  bulbs  are  lost  from;  keeping 
them  too  dry  in  the  winter,  and  some- 
times from  wintering  them  too  cold; 
60  degrees  is  cold  enough  for  them 
and  don't  let  the  soil  get  dust  dry; 
look  at  them  every  two  or  three  weeks 
and  if  the  soil  is  very  dry  give  them 
a  watering.  In  starting,  of  course 
you  will  shake  off  all  the  old  soil. 
There  is  no  need  of  mentioning  any  of 
the  varieties,  for  their  name  is  le- 
gion, and  all  are  beautiful. 


40 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


C.  Esculentum. 

Caladium  esculentum  is  an  impcr-* 
tant  plant  with  the  florist  and  it  en- 
ters largely  into  his  spring  business. 
Every  one  knows  this  caladium,  and 
some  of  our  customers  know  it  by  the 
descriptive  and  artistic  name  of  "Ele- 
phant's Ears." 

They  are  multiplied  by  the  small 
tubers  that  are  always  found  on  the 
large  ones,  but  at  the  low  cost  of  a 
tuber  the  size  of  a  base  ball  (and  that 
is  amply  large  enough)  it  will  never 
pay  a  florist  to  grow  his  own  bulbs. 
You  cannot  begin  to  raise  them  as 


three  inches  deep  in  which  the  bottom 
half  is  sifted  decayed  manure  and  the 
top  half  sand,  pushing  the  bulb  down 
till  its  top  is  little  above  the  rim  of 
flat,  and  the  bulbs  almost  touching. 
Give  them  a  watering  and  place  the 
flats  on  the  hot  water  pipes.  You  will 
save  two  or  three  weeks  by  this  meth- 
od over  starting  them  in  the  pots  on 
a  cold  bench  and  will  save  much 
valuable  space.  We  plant  them  in 
the  flats  in  time  so  they  will  be  ready 
to  pot  off  just  after  Easter  when  the 
pressure  for  space  has  been  relieved. 
When  taken  out  of  the  flats  they 
have  made  a  growth  of  five  or  six 


Calamus  Ciliaris. 


cheaply  as  you  can  buy  them  from 
the  man  who  grows  an  acre.  If  you 
have  any  plants  on  your  own  place 
and  wish  to  save  them,  cut  the  stalk 
off  a  foot  above  the  ground  after  the 
first  frost,  dig  up,  shake  off  all  the 
soil  and  lay  them  on  the  ground  under 
a  rose-house  bench.  I  have  found  the 
temperature  and  humidity  of  a  rose 
house  just  right  providing  the  ground 
is  dry. 

When  we  receive  the  bulbs  in  the 
spring  we  cut  out  all  the  eyes  and 
small  tubers  because  we  don't  want 
them,  and  we  cut  off  the  remains  of 
the  old  tuber  close  up  to  the  new 
sound  one.  We  put  them  in  flats 


inches  and  are  a  mass  of  roots.  They 
are  then  potted  into  5-inch  pots,  or 
extra  strong  ones  into  6-inch.  You 
do  not  want  them  too  large  when  bed- 
ded out,  as  the  wind  breaks  them,  nor 
too  late  or  your  customers  will  be 
disappointed;  about  eighteen  inches 
high,  with  three  leaves,  will  do.  Any 
kind  of  rich  soil  will  do  for  them  in 
pots,  with  water  ad  libitum,  and  a 
light,  dry  house.  When  you  are  grow- 
ing your  caladiums  all  houses  are 
much  alike  as  to  temperature. 

To  make  the  best  effect  in  any  posi- 
tion out  of  doors  the  ground  should 
be  dug  deep,  with  plenty  of  manure 
worked  in.  Here  is  a  plant  that  the 


coachman  can  water  to  his  heart's 
content.  I  mentioned  a  bulb  the  size 
of  a  base  ball,  but  that  is  the  largest 
useful  size.  Tubers  that  are  1%  to 
2  inches  in  diameter  are  large  enough 
to  make  fine  plants  for  summer  use. 

We  hear  that  the  tubers  of  this  cala- 
dium are  cooked  and  eaten  in  the 
south.  Its  name  implies  that  it  is  edi- 
ble, and  its  other  name  is  Colocasia 
esculentum. 

CALAMUS 

The  rattan  palms,  or  calamus,  in- 
clude twenty  or  more  species  of  slen- 
der growing  and  very  graceful  palms 
that  are  found  in  a  wild  state  in  vari- 
ous portions  of  the  tropics,  chiefly  in 
India  or  the  East  Indies. 

Some  of  the  species  become  climbers 
in  their  native  country,  and  are  said  to 
attain  a  length  of  stem  of  200  to  300 
feet,  and  to  trail  over  the  tops  of  for- 
est trees  in  Java  and  Borneo,  but  the 
subject  of  our  illustration  is  one  of 
the  smaller  growing  species,  and  not 
likely  to  outgrow  its  accommodations 
for  a  period  of  several  years  at  least. 

Calamus  ciliaris  is  a  particularly 
graceful  palm  in  a  young  state,  having 
a  slender,  reed-like  stem,  and  finely 
divided  pinnate  leaves.  The  leaves  of 
this  species  are  light  green,  the  pin- 
nae narrow  and  arranged  very  closely 
on  the  stem,  and  the  foliage  is  rather 
soft  to  the  touch,  owing  to  its  being 
covered  with  short,  hair-like  bristles. 
.  C.  ciliaris  is  essentially  a  warm 
house  palm,  flourishing  in  a  tempera- 
ture of  70  to  75  degrees,  with  abun- 
dant moisture,  its  tropical  jungle  habi- 
tat giving  us  some  idea  as  to  its  cul- 
tural wants. 

The  leaves  of  this  species  being  rath- 
er thin  in  texture,  it  is  liable  to  at- 
tacks of  red  spider  unless  freely 
syringed  and  watered,  but,  when  well- 
grown  is  very  attractive,  and  while 
not  adapted  for  all  trade  purposes  is 
a  valuable  and  effective  plant  for  spe- 
cial occasions. 

C.  ciliaris  suckers  freely  around  the 
base,  and  by  careful  handling  these 
suckers  may  be  removed  and  estab- 
lished, but  it  is  necessary  to  keep 
them  rather  close  and  warm  for  a  time 
in  order  to  encourage  the  new  roots, 
and  also  to  be  careful  that  they  are 
not  allowed  to  get  too  dry. 

W.  H.  T. 

CALANTHE. 

See  Orchids. 

CALCEOLARIA. 

There  are  few  more  attractive  and 
showy  greenhouse  flowers  than  the  cal- 
ceolaria, and  although  useless  as  a  cut 
flower  it  is  of  great  value  as  a  green- 
house decorative  plant,  or  as  a  window 
plant,  lasting  fully  as  long  as  a  cine- 
raria and  many  other  of  our  popular 
flowers.  There  are  several  species, 
both  of  the  herbaceous  and  shrubby 
sections,  nearly  all  from  the  west  coast 
of  South  America  and  at  a  good  eleva- 
tion, for  calceolarias  dislike  great 
heat  at  any  time  of  their  growth. 

Little  attention  is  paid  to  the  spe- 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


41 


cies,  the  beautiful  hybrids  of  the  her- 
baceous section  being  what  we  are 
interested  in.  Seed  can  be  obtained  of 
any  reliable  seedsman  that  will  pro- 
duce a  great  variety  of  beautiful 
flowers.  Sow  from  June  to  end  of  Sep- 
tember. If  wanted  in  bloom  by  March 
the  earlier  month  is  the  time  to  sow, 
but  they  are  difficult  to  have  in  bloom 
that  early;  if  sown  in  September  they 
can  be  bloomed  the  following  May,  and 
with  less  risk  of  failure  than  earlier. 
The  seed  is  most  minute  and  for  direc- 
tions about  sowing  refer  to  chapter 
on  that  subject.  Would  say  here  that 
it  should  never  be  covered,  a  piece  of 
glass  over  the  seed  pan  being  suffi- 
cient. 

When  the  little  plants  are  large 
enough  to  handle  place  them  in  pans 
or  pots  an  inch  apart.  When  they  are 
near  touching  each  other  put  into  3- 
inch  pots.  By  December  they  will  be 
large  enough  to  go  into  5-inch  pots  and 
as  they  must  be  wintered  cool  they  will 
not  need  another  shift  till  the  first  of 
March,  when  they  can  go  into  their 
flowering  pots,  a  7  or  8-inch. 

Calceolarias  are  not  so  often  seen  in 
either  the  florists'  windows  or  the  pri- 
vate garden  as  their  great  beauty 
should  warrant,  and  the  reason  is  that 
although  they  cannot  be  called  a  diffi- 
cult plant  to  manage,  they  are  easily 
ruined  by  neglect  or  mismanagement. 
The  following  conditions  if  faithfully 
observed  will  insure  success. 

Watering:  At  no  time  must  they  be 
allowed  to  wilt  for  want  of  water,  and 


of  winter  40  degrees  at  night  is  plenty 
warm  enough.  In  Europe  they  are 
largely  grown  in  cold-frames.  Here 
that  is  not  as  practicable,  but  from 
seed  sowing  till  middle  of  November 
a  cold-frame  is  much  the  best  for 
them.  Let  them  at  all  times  be  so  situ- 
ated that  they  can  have  light,  room 


nent  one  till  they  are  near  flowering 
time. 

Soil:  A  rather  light  loam,  not  chop- 
ped or  sifted  too  fine,  with  a  fourth  or 
fifth  of  thoroughly  rotted  manure,  will 
grow  them  well.  If  the  soil  is  heavy, 
add  sand  to  the  manure.  I  am  sure  it 
pays  well  when  they  are  in  the  larger 


Herbaceous  Calceolarias. 


like  the  cineraria  must  never  be  over 
watered  or  that  will  kill  them;  avoid 
extremes  both  ways.    No  syringing  is 
needed. 
Temperature:    In  the  dull,  dark  days 


to  grow,  plenty  of  fresh  air  and  a  low 
temperature.  Bright  sun  coming  sud- 
denly in  early  spring  is  liable  to  burn 
their  leaves,  so  a  temporary  shade 
should  be  provided,  but  not  a  perma- 


pots,  the  5-inch  and  upwards,  to  drain 
with  a  few  crocks  and  a  piece  of  green 
moss. 

Insects:  They  are  seldom  troubled 
with  any  but  the  common  greenfly,  but 
to  those  the  calceolaria  is  a  choice 
morsel,  and  too  often  a  fine  batch  of 
young  plants  is  utterly  ruined  by 
them.  Don't  wait  till  you  see  the  fly, 
but  smoke  mildly  every  week  at  least 
without  fail,  and  till  they  are  taken  to 
the  show-house  should  always  have 
tobacco  stems  strewn  among  the  pots. 
There  is  no  feature  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  calceolaria  so  important  as  this; 
never  let  aphis  be  seen  on  them. 

The  shrubby  section  of  calceolaria  is 
used  in  Europe  largely  as  a  summer 
flowering  garden  plant.  The  writer  has 
tried  it  here  several  times,  but  always 
with  failure,  and  that  I  believe  is  the 
general  verdict;  our  hot  summer  is  the 
obstacle.  As  a  flowering  plant  for  the 
greenhouse  they  are  not  nearly  as  or- 
namental as  the  herbaceous  varieties. 
The  same  cultural  directions  will  ap- 
ply to  them,  excepting  that  they  are 
usually  propagated  by  cuttings,  which 
root  readily  in  the  fall  in  a  cool,  shady 
frame. 

CAMELLIA. 

This  once  universally  cultivated 
plant  has  gone  largely  out  of  fashion 
and  for  the  last  twenty  years  is  neith- 
er seen  nor  spoken  of.  The  cause  is 
not  far  to  seek.  Our  largest  and  best 
tea  roses  are  as  beautiful  in  form,  of 


42 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


warmer  tints  of  color  and  fragrant. 
Then  again  all  cut  flowers  must  now 
have  their  natural  stem  and  that 
largely  bars  the  camellia.  There  was 
a  time  which  all  older  florists  remem- 
ber in  the  first  days  of  the  use  of  elab- 
orate mechanically  made  designs, 
when  camellias  were  indispensable, 
and  more  than  one  of  us  can  remem- 
ber the  request  or  order  of  our  patrons 
of  twenty-five  years  ago:  "Be  sure  to 
put  in  plenty  of  Japonicas." 

They  are  mostly  all  propagated  by 
grafting  the  fine  varieties  on  seedling 
stocks,  or  stocks  raised  from  cuttings 
put  into  sandy  soil  in  July  and  Au- 
gust in  a  cold-frame  that  can  be  kept 
shady  and  cool.  The  propagation  is 
better  left  to  the  specialist,  and  the 
growing  of  camellias  to  the  private 
gardener.  Not  because  their  cultiva- 
tion is  at  all  difficult,  but  because  the 


only  way  to  get  them  into  bloom  early 
is  to  start  them  growing  in  the  spring 
early.  At  that  time  they  will  stand 
a  good  heat  with  plenty  of  moisture 
on  leaf  and  root.  As  soon  as  they 
have  made  their  growth  and  show 
the  small  flower  bud  on  the  end  of 
the  growth  they  should  be  kept  as 
cool  as  possible  during  the  remainder 
of  the  summer.  The  hot  summer  is 
what  they  don't  like,  and  there  is  no 
better  place  in  summer  than  out  of 
doors  in  the  shade  of  a  building,  or 
what  is  still  better  a  summer  house 
covered  with  lattice-work,  which  gives 
partial  shade  and  coolness.  They  will 
do  very  well  in  winter  in  a  tempera- 
ture of  40  degrees  at  night. 

When  I  say  they  are  hardy  in  the 
south  of  England  and  the  milder  parts 
of  Ireland  you  can  form  an  idea  as  to 
their  hardiness.  I  remember  about 


CANNA. 

The  canna  was  of  old  often  called 
"Indian  Shot"  because' the  seed  is  ex- 
cellent as  a  charge  for  the  shotgun 
when  a  stray  dog  is  the  game  in  view. 

Few  plants  have  undergone  such  a 
change  and  improvement  of  late  years 
as  the  canna.  Thirty  years  ago  cannas 
were  grown  almost  exclusively  for 
their  handsome  tropical  foliage,  but 
since  M.  Crozy  introduced  his  wonder- 
ful hybrids  the  flower  is  of  more  im- 
portance than  the  leaves.  Our  sum- 
mers are  admirably  adapted  to  the 
perfect  development  of  the  canna,  and 
as  a  decorative  plant  for  our  summer 
gardens  it  easily  takes  the  front  rank. 
Gorgeous  beds  are  seen  in  the  parks, 
cemeteries,  private  grounds,  and  even 
in  the  humble  little  garden  of  the  day 
laborer.  In  an  8  or  9-inch  pot  they 


demand,  both  for  the  plants  and  flow- 
ers, is  too  meager. 

In  cool  conservatories  they  make 
grand  bushes  planted  out  in  the  bor- 
der. The  writer  well  remembers  the 
day  when  it  was  his  duty  to  jar  the 
stem  of  a  large  double  white  camellia 
every  morning  when  in  flower  and 
then  rake  up  from  the  perfectly  kept 
border  hundreds  of  fallen  petals,  but 
that  was  in  a  climate  more  suitable, 
I  think,  fbr  the  camellia  than  this 
one. 

They  like  a  good,  strong  yellow 
loam  and  should  not  be  overpotted. 
The  roots  should  be  moist  the  year 
round  and  in  the  spring  and  early 
summer  (their  growing  time)  should 
have  plenty  of  water  and  an  occasion- 
al syringing.  They  can  be  had  in 
bloom  from  October  till  May,  but  en- 
dure no  such  thing  as  forcing.  The 


Bed  of  Cannas  bordered  with  Acalyphas. 

the  year  1864  a  large  plant  of  the 
"Lady  Hume's  Blush"  that  was  badly 
covered  with  white  scale.  It  was  left 
out  of  doors  all  winter  with  the  in- 
tention of  applying  the  radical  treat- 
ment of  kill  or  cure.  The  camellia 
came  through  the  winter  unharmed. 
I  forget  whether  the  scale  was  killed 
or  not.  The  scale  is  about  the 
only  pest  that  troubles  the  camellia, 
and  that  can  be  destroyed  by  washing 
with  the  kerosene  emulsion. 

The  hybrids  that  were  raised  from 
the  several  species  are  the  most  use- 
ful if  you  grow  them  at  all.  The  sin- 
gle colored  varieties  are  fine  decora- 
tive flowers.  I  learn  from  a  Philadel- 
phia firm  that  a  great  many  camellias 
are  now  sold  to  go  to  the  southern 
states.  Where  planted  out  they 
would  be  very  fine.  Last  winter,  how- 
ever, would  about  do  .them  up. 


make  grand  plants  for  the  decoration 
of  a  large  conservatory,  where  you 
can  see  the  fullest  perfection  of  their 
grand  flowers. 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  Crozy 
type  (or,  as  they  are  often  called, 
"Flowering  Cannas"),  the  old  species 
and  types  whose  leaves  were  the  at- 
traction and  flowers  small  and  few, 
have  sunk  into  desuetude  and  are 
rarely  cultivated,  because  the  newer 
varieties  have  not  only  splendid  spikes 
of  flowers  but  all  the  variety  in  color 
of  foliage  also.  There  is  one  of  the 
old  type  still  left  that  for  effect  of 
foliage  I  have  never  yet  seen  equalled 
by  any  of  the  large  flowering  ones. 
We  call  it  La  Grande  Rouge.  It  grows 
six  feet  high  in  any  ordinary  soil,  has 
narrow,  long,  pointed  leaves,  in  color 
a.  deep,  almost  purple,  bronze,  and 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


43 


Carludovica  Atrovirens.     (See  page  44.) 


very  upright  habit.    For  the  center  of 
a  large  bed  we  don't  know  its  equal. 

Our  own  American  florists  have 
raised  many  grand  varieties,  equal  to 
any  of  the  imported  ones.  The  canna 
seems  well  adapted  to  our  climate 
and  environment.  In  the  north  in 
winter,  outside  the  greenhouse,  our 
vegetation  is  largely  hibernating.  The 
sombre  pines  keep  green  'tis  true,  but 
we  are  without  the  broad-leaved  ever- 
greens of  the  south.  Our  giants  of  the 
forest  are  bleak  and  bare  and  the 
snow-bird  fiies  noisessly  across  the 
waste.  Our  woods  are  solemnly  still. 
Our  wild  animals  have  scattered  their 
seeds  and  herbaceous  plants  are  cov- 
ered with  their  welcome  overcoat  of 
snow.  Except  for  man  and  his  neces- 
sities it  would  be  a  quiet  scene.  The 
bear  slumbers  in  the  hollow  tree  and 
dreams  of  honey;  the  squirrel  stops  at 
home  and  enjoys  the  fruits  of  his 
frugal  care,  and  the  marmot  curls  up 
in  his  deep  burrow  but  peeps  out  in 
early  March  to  see  how  prospects  are, 
and  about  the  time  he  takes  his  first 
peep  is  the  time  to  sow  canna  seed. 
When  spring  once  comes  our  vegeta- 
tion awakens  and  grows  apace.  Trees 
leave  out  it  seems  in  a  night,  our 


woods  and  fields  are  clothed  with  leaf 
and  blossom,  and  music  is  everywhere 
and  free  to  all  from  the  tireless  throat 
of  the  frog  and  the  sweet  call  of  the 
meadow  lark  (which  is  not  a  lark  at 
all,  but  a  starling),  and  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  quick  and  stately  growth 
of  the  canna  is  in  keeping  with  all  this, 
and  is  our  ideal  decorative  plant. 

Cannas  come  largely  true  from  seed, 
and  good  plants  can  be  raised  by  sow- 
ing in  February  for  the  following  sum- 
mer's use.  The  seed  is  so  hard  that 
it  is  well  to  not  only  soak  it  in  a  bag 
suspended  in  hot  water,  which  you 
can  renew  occasionally,  but  are  all  the 
better  if  you  take  each  seed,  held  firm- 
ly by  a  pair  of  pincers  and  slice  off  a 
small  piece  of  the  hard  covering  of  the 
seed.  Sow  in  pans  in  three  inches  of 
soil,  covering  the  seed  half  an  inch 
or  more.  We  place  the  pans  on  the 
hot-water  pipes,  which  quickens  the 
growth  of  the  seed.  When  the  plant 
is  three  inches  high  we  remove  it  and 
start  it  growing  in  a  pot;  but  don't 
throw  away  the  contents  of  the  pan, 
for  there  are  always  more  to  come, 
and  they  will  likely  keep  straggling 
along  for  months.  Grow  the  seedlings 
along  in  a  light,  warm  house  and  by 


June  1st,  which  is  planting  time,  they 
should  be  in  4-inch  pots. 

The  readiest  way,  and  that  by  which 
all  fine  varieties  are  propagated,  is  by 
cutting  up  or  division  of  the  root.  The 
old  stools  that  have  been  stored  all 
winter  are  divided  in  March.  If  the 
piece  of  root  is  three  or  four  inches 
long,  with  one  good  eye  or  bud,  it  is 
large  enough  to  make  a  fine  plant.  We 
place  the  pieces  of  root  in  three  or 
four  inches  of  sand  and  old  hot-bed 
manure  in  flats  about  the  middle  or 
end  of  March  and  place  the  flats  on 
the  pipes  where  the  heat  is  not  too 
violent.  They  start  to  root  and  grow 
immediately. 

By  middle  of  April  you  have  pre- 
sumably got  rid  of  your  lilies,  etc.,  and 
can  find  room  to  pot  off  the  cannas 
into  4  and  5-inch  pots.  They  should 
have  a  light  bench  in  a  light  house  and 
no  shade,  but  abundance  of  water,  and 
by  the  first  of  June  they  will  be  fine 
plants,  many  of  them  sending  up  their 
first  spike  of  flowers. 

Any  soil  that  is  one-third  half  rot- 
ten manure  will  do  for  the  cannas. 
You  cannot  give  them  too  deep  or  too 
rich  a  soil  and  they  require  a  great 
abundance  of  water.  They  are  usually 
planted  15  to  18  inches  apart. 

When  the  foliage  is  destroyed  by 
frost  the  tops  are  cut  down  to  within 
six  inches  of  the  ground  and  the 
clump  of  roots  lifted  and  removed  to 
beneath  a  dry  bench.  On  the  ground 
beneath  a  carnation  bench  is  an  ex- 
cellent place,  or  anywhere  the  tempe- 
rature is  between  40  and  50  degrees, 
but  it  must  not  be  wet  or  they  will 
start  to  grow.  Neither  must  there  be 
a  drip;  the  latter  is,  I  know  from  ex- 
perience, very  bad  for  them,  as  the 
roots  will  rot.-  It  is  better  when  plac- 
ing them  under  the  bench  to  put 
boards  under  them  for  the  moisture  of 
the  soil;-  however  dry  it  may  appear, 
will  start  them  growing.  A  root-house 
for  the  purpose,  where  dahlias  would 
keep,  would  be  the  best  place,  but  few 
of  us  have  that,  and  beneath  the 
benches  is  amply  good  providing  you 
guard  against  drip  on  them. 

We  always  treat  the  canna  as  an  her- 
baceous plant,  and  it  is  called  so  by 
high  authorities,  but,  in  their  tropical 


One  or  the  Largest  Stocks  or.... 

Cannas 


COTTAGE    GARDENS, 

QUEENS,  N.  Y. 


ALSO  MANY 


HOVELTIES. 


In  Greenhouse  and 
Bedding  Plants. 


We  have  an 

unlimited  quantity 

of  the  very  best  soil 

for  greenhouse  work,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 

complete  and  best  appointed  greenhouse  plants 

in  existence. 


44 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


home  they  are  by  no  means  herba- 
ceous, spreading  and  growing  and 
flowering  the  year  round.  You  can 
lift,  divide  and  propagate  new  and 
rare  varieties  the  year  round,  and  you 
can  lift  large  clumps  before  frost  has 
touched  them  and  use  them  in  decora- 
tions. 

It  is  difficult  to  pick  out  even  a  doz- 
en varieties,  for  new  sorts  are  con- 
stantly appearing  and  what  is  con- 
sidered the  finest  this  year  may  be 
eclipsed  by  seedlings  of  next  year. 
Cannas  that  do  not  flower  abundantly 
and  hold  their  flowers  well  will  not  do 
for  bedding,  and  those  minus  these 
qualities  will  soon  be  lost  sight  of. 
Italia  and  Austria,  so  beautiful  as  in- 
dividual flowers,  are  useless  planted 
out  as  is  most  likely  all  that  type. 
Some  of  the  best  bedders,  if  not  new, 
are: 

Madame  Crozy:  Vermilion  scarlet, 
bordered  with  golden  yellow. 

Florence  Vaughan:  Fine  yellow, 
mottled  with  crimson. 

Paul  Marquant:     Salmon. 

Souvenir  de  Antoine  Crozy:  A 
grand  variety;  an  improvement  on 
Mme.  Crozy. 

Tarrytown:     Rich  bright  red. 

Trocadero:     Deep  crimson  lake. 

Charles  Henderson:     Deep  crimson. 

Egandale:  Soft  red;  fine  dark  foli- 
age. 

President  Carnot:  Scarlet;  dark 
foliage. 

Chicago:  Vermillion  scarlet;  fine 
green  foliage. 

President  Cleveland:  Orange  scar- 
let; one  of  the  best. 

Rose  Mawr:     Rosy  pink. 

Klondike:     Orange. 

Admiral  Avellan:  Orange  scarlet; 
fine  dark  foliage. 

Papa:  One  of  the  best  reds;  im- 
mense spike. 

Madame  Montefiore:  A  fine  yellow, 
slightly  spotted. 

And  dozens  of  others.  Test  care- 
fully the  new  varieties  as  they  appear, 
unless  you  have  a  chance  to  see  a 
whole  bed  of  them  growing. 

CANDYTUFT. 
See  Annuals. 

CAPE  POND  WEED. 

See  Aponogeton. 

CARLUDOVICA. 

Though  frequently  considered  among 
palms  and  grown  with  them,  yet  this 
handsome  foliage  plant  is  not  a  palm, 
being  more  nearly  related  to  the  pan- 
danus  family.  C.  atrovirens  has  been 
in  cultivation  for  many  years,  but  does 
not  appear  to  have  become  common 
in  the  trade  on  this  side  of  the  ocean, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  is  seldom  met 
with  outside  of  private  collections. 

C.  atrovirens  is  a  stemless  or  nearly 
stemless  plant  of  'bushy  habit,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  bifid,  plaited  some- 
what like  those  of  a  curculigo,  and 
very  dark  green,  as  indicated  by  the 
specific  name. 

This  plant  grows  freely  in  a  warm 
house,  and  is  not  hard  to  please  in 


the  matter  of  compost,  but  makes 
more  rapid  growth  in  light,  rich  soil 
with  good  drainage,  the  latter  point 
being  the  more  necessary  from  the 
fact  that  an  abundant  supply  of  water 
is  needed  for  its  welfare. 

Propagation  may  be  effected  by  seeds 
when  these  are  obtainable,  but  more 
often  depends  on  division,  as  C.  atro- 
virens produces  suckers  freely,  and  by 
washing  out  the  roots  these  suckers 
may  be  separated  from  the  parent 
plant  without  difficulty,  and  soon  be- 
come established  plants. 

The  carludovicas  are  said  to  be  na- 
tives only  of  tropical  South  America, 
where  a  number  of  handsome  species 
have  been  found,  one  of  which,  C.  pal- 
mata,  possesses  additional  interest  on 
account  of  its  leaves  furnishing  the 
material  for  the  so-called  Panama 
hats,  those  luxuries  of  summer  dress 
that  are  unfortunately  beyond  the 
purse  of  the  average  florist.  But  we, 
may  be  permitted  to  grow  a  plant  of 
Carludovica  palmata,  and  by  exercis- 
ing the  imagination  we  may  see  the 
patient  South  American  native  select- 
ing one  large  young  leaf,  carefully  re- 
moving the  stiff  veins  or  ribs  from  it, 
then  slitting  it  into  narrow  strips,  and 
finally  plating  it  into  a  shapely  head 
cover  without  separating  the  strips  at 
the  stem  end.  Such  ingenuity  de- 
serves a  proper  financial  reward,  but 
in  all  probability  the  larger  portion 
of  the  profit  is  secured  by  the  Euro- 
pean or  American  hatter,  who  ulti- 
mately retails  the  product.  W.  H.  T. 

CARNATION. 

If  not  the  most  important  flower  we 
grow,  the  carnation  certainly  stands 
next  to  the  rose,  both  in  area  of  glass 


devoted  to  its  culture  and  value  of  the 
flowers  sold.  Of  all  our  commercial 
flowers  the  type  of  carnations  we  grow 
are  most  distinctively  American.  They 
are  very  different  from  the  tree  carna- 
tion of  Europe,  which  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  perennial  bloomers  there, 
but  the  flowers  were  few  and  far  be- 
tween and  had  no  such  stems  as  our 
present  day  carnations.  Nor  are  they 
like  the  garden  carnations  which  come 
with  a  grand  burst  of  bloom  in  June 
and  July,  but  have  no  tendency  to 
flower  again  for  another  year.  It  is 
certain  that  our  strain  inheritsi  the 
blood  of  more  than  one  breed,  for 
seedlings  often  revert  back  to  varie- 
ties that  produce  a  strong  growth  and 
few  flowers,  and  some  again  are  crop- 
pers. 

The  splendid  varieties  we  have  to- 
day have  been  produced  not  suddenly 
hut  by  the  slow  operation  of  the  law 
of  evolution,  aided  by  artificial  selec- 
tion. The  first  carnations  that  I  at- 
tempted to  flower  in  the  winter 
months  were  La  Purite,  carmine,  and 
Edwardsii  and  President  Degraw,  both 
white,  all  very  free  bloomers,  and  the 
flowers  were  always  used  with  short 
stems.  If  we  had  disbudded  and  picked 
the  flowers  with  long  stems  I  doubt 
whether  they  would  be  as  free  as  many 
of  our  present  varieties. 

Astoria  was  a  pioneer  among  carna- 
tions and  a  cross  between  it  and  Ed- 
wardsii produced  Buttercup,  which  was 
a  wonderful  flower  in  its  day  and 
which  for  years  had  no  rival.  From 
1875  to  1885  there  were  no  carnation 
specialists  and  the  few  varieties  intro- 
duced during  that  time  are  gone  and 
forgotten.  About  the  latter  date  ap- 
peared Grace  Wilder,  the  first  of  its 


Carnation  Mrs.  Geo.  M.  Bradt. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


45 


color  (Scott  is  almost  the  same  shade). 
Then  Mr.  Simmons,  of  Geneva,  sent 
out  his  famous  varieties,  several  of 
which  were  a  great  advance  on  exist- 
ing varieties  and  some  of  them  are 
standard  sorts  today.  Silver  Spray,  J. 
J.  Harrison,  Portia,  Tidal  Wave,  and 
greatest  of  all — Daybreak — were  sent 
out  by  him. 

To  trace  further  the  subsequent  in- 
troductions would  make  too  long  a 
chapter.  It  is  about  ten  years  since 
the  carnation  was  taken  up  and  spe- 
cialized by  many  of  our  best  horticul- 
turists with  the  result  that  we  have 
attained  what  ten  years  ago  would 
have  been  considered  the  absolute 
ideal.  But  who  can  tell  what  Dorner, 
Hill,  May,  Nicholson,  Fisher,  Ward  or 
other  enthusiasts  will  do.  Size  has 
been  attained  almost  or  quite  to  the 
desired  point.  Jubilee,  Pingree  and 
America  have  a  two-foot  stem  of  suf- 
ficient substance  to  hold  their  heads 
quite  erect. 

Fragrance  should  be  an  attribute  of 
all  varieties.  In  color  we  have  shades 
from  deep  maroon  to  purest  white,  and 
yet  perhaps  it  is  in  color  that  the  fu- 


ture promises  most  for  the  raiser  of 
new  varieties.  I  would  say  just  here 
that  when  any  good  variety  does~well 
with  you  don't  discard  it  till  you  are 
sure  you  can  grow  a  better  variety  of 
the  same  color. 

There  are  few  plants  that  accommo- 
date themselves  so  readily  to  a  great 
variety  cf  soils.  Yet  from  quality  of 
soils,  or  more  likely  methods  of  hand- 
ling, good  gardeners  fail  with  some 
varieties  while  entirely  successful  with 
others. 

Whether  we  have  reached  the  limit 
in  the  improvement  of  the  divine 
flower  or  not  is  a  question  that  it  is 
not  at  all  essential  to  worry  over  be- 
cause we  shall  want  the  disseminator 
of  new  varieties  always  with  us. 
Whether  under  our  continuous  winter 
culture  varieties  should  gradually  lack 
health  and  vigor  is  a  question  that  has 
led  to  some  controversy.  We  don't 
"force"  carnations  by  any  means,  yet 
to  a  great  extent  we  reverse  the  sea- 
sons, and  propagating  by  cuttings  is 
not  raising  a  new  individual  as  grow- 
ing from  seed.  We  are  merely  divid- 


ing and  perpetuating  the  old  original 
plant.  And  my  experience  is  that  after 
eight  or  ten  years  a  variety  loses  its 
vigor  and  is  a  prey  to  all  carnation 
diseases.  And  even  if  it  did  not  it 
would  be  superseded  by  improved  va- 
rieties. 

Propagation. 

In  cultural  hints  the  proper  place  to 
begin  is  with  the  cutting.  Let  me  re- 
peat that  the  plants  from  which  you 
take  the  cuttings  have  not  been  forced. 
They  have  been  subjected  to  a  lower 
temperature  than  that  in  which  it 
would  flower  in  its  native  habitat.  So 
the  plant  is  not  exhausted,  and  there 
is  no  need  of  having  any  plants  in  a 
cold-frame  to  propagate  from.  No  bet- 
ter material  can  be  had  than  that 
from  your  flowering  plants. 

Cuttings  root  readily  from  Novem- 
ber 1st  to  the  middle  of  April,  or  even 
earlier  or  later,  but  except  for  special 
purposes,  such  as  plants  to  flower  in 
early  summer,  which  can  be  propa- 
gated in  November,  or  in  case  you  are 
very  short  of  a  variety,  from  January 
1st  to  March  1st  is  the  best  time  to 


46 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


put  the  cuttings  in  the  sand.  No  spe- 
cial propagating  house  is  needed.  An 
ordinary  bench  such  as  you  would 
grow  carnations  on,  is  as  good  as  the 
most  expensive  arrangements  and  the 
temperature  of  the  house  can  be  just 
the  same.  Avoid  a  direct  draught, 
either  from  a  door  or  ventilator.  Car- 
nations want  the  light  and  little  shad- 
ing is  needed  during  January  and  Feb- 
ruary. When  the  sun  gets  high  enough 
to  wilt  the  cuttings  we  tack  cheese 
cloth  up  to  the  glass.  That  is  far  bet- 
ter than  laying  on  and  taking  off  news- 
papers. The  cloth  is  heavy  enough  to 
shed  the  rays  of  the  sun  at  any  time 
and  is  far  enough  above  the^  cuttings 
to  give  them  sufficient'  light  at  all 
times. 

For  the  cutting  bed  three  inches  of 
coarse  clean  river  or  lake  sand  is  suf- 
ficient. As  a  consolation  to  those  who 
do  not  have  lake  sand  near  them  I  will 
say  that  for  the  past  five  years  I  have 


every  day.  If  hot  water  or  steam  pipes 
run  beneath  the  board  bench,  there  is 
no  harm  done,  but  what  we  know  as 
bottom  heat  is  not  at  all  essential  in 
propagating  carnations. 

In  the  early  days  of  carnation  grow- 
ing, before  flowers  were  picked  with 
long  stems,  we  used  for  cuttings  only 
the  young  growths  from  the  bottom, 
those  that  would  grow  up  and  produce 
flowers,  and  I  am  not  sure  but  what 
they  make  the  finest  plants.  They 
are  not,  however,  the  quickest  or  sur- 
est to  root.  The  propagator  of  large 
quantities,  or  those  wishing  to  raise 
the  largest  possible  number  of  a  new 
variety,  may  take  every  green  shoot 
that  will  make  a  plant  or  root.  But 
that  is  not  the  way  to  perpetuate  your 
plants  for  the  best  results.  Cuttings 
should  be  taken  only  from  the  health- 
iest plants,  and  it  will  pay  to  also 
choose  from  the  plants  bearing  the 
largest  and  best  flowers,  for  like  begets 


Bench  of  Carnation  Cuttings. 


propagated  in  bank  sand,  containing 
even  some  loam  in  fine  particles,  and 
I  have  not  lost  on  an  average  5  per 
cent,  of  the  cuttings,  and  in  free  root- 
ing varieties,  like  Scott  and  Day- 
break, none.  There  is  little  danger  of 
the  troublesome  fungus  among  your 
carnation  cuttings  because  the  tem- 
perature should  not  be  high  enough 
for  its  vegetation.  But  as  a  preventive 
and  for  another  reason  we  always 
water  the  sand  with  the  ammoniacal 
solution  before  each  batch  of  cuttings 
is  put  in. 

Watering  is  a  matter  of  pure  sense 
and  judgment.  If  the  glass  is  covered 
with  snow,  or  the  weather  is  dull  and 
sunless,  we  water  every  three  or  four 
days.  If  the  weather  is  bright  and 
sunny,  allowing  plenty  of  ventilation, 
then  every  second  day.  And  if  you 
have  occasion  to  propagate  late  in 
March  the  cuttings  will  take  water 


like.  The  offshoots  from  the  flower- 
ing stem  make  fine  cuttings,  but  they 
should  be  taken  not  too  low  down, 
where  they  are  hard  and  woody,  nor 
too  near  the  flower,  where  they  are 
small  and  spindling. 

Some  growers  just  tear  off  the  cut- 
tings and  put  them  in  the  sand  as 
they  are  pulled  off.  I  prefer  to  cut 
the  smallest  possible  piece  off  the  bot- 
tom. As  to  trimming  the  leaves,  gen- 
erally the  two  lower  ones  are  best  re- 
moved. Shearing  off  the  tops  of  the 
leaves  does  not  hurt  the  cuttings,  nor 
does  it  help  them  to  root;  it  is  done 
merely  to  allow  you  to  get  more  cut- 
tings into  the  same  surface  of  sand. 
The  distance  apart  to  place  the  cut- 
tings in  the  sand  is  merely  a  question 
of  variety.  Some  need  more  room  than 
others,  but  the  cuttings  should  be  at 
least  one  inch  into  the  sand  in  straight 
rows,  and  the  man  that  cannot  draw 


with  an  old  knife  a  perfectly  straight 
line  across  three  or  four  feet  of  propa- 
gating bed  without  the  aid  of  a 
straight  edge  should  be  sent  back  to 
washing  pots. 

In  a  temperature  of  50  degrees  at 
night  the  cuttings  will  root  in  25  to 
30  days.  They  do  not  all  root  equally 
in  the  same  time.  Some  cuttings  (of 
roses  for  instance)  are  best  potted  up 
as  soon  as  the  roots  have  started  out 
a  fourth  of  an  inch,  but  a  carnation 
I  would  rather  have  with  roots  an 
inch  long.  I  have  occasion  every  year 
to  put  some  in  flats  in  two  inches  of 
sand  and  some  in  21/4-inch  pots,  and 
I  see  no  difference  in  results  in  the 
field.  The  flats  (mine  are  small,  hold- 
ing only  two  dozen  plants)  are  much 
the  cheapest,  requiring  less  care  and 
being  easier  to  handle  than  pots. 

After  the  first  week  from  the  sand 
they  will  be  well  rooted  in  the  pots 
or  flats  and  should  be  given  full  sun- 
light and  plenty  of  air.  As  planting 
out  time  approaches  you  will  have 
stopped  firing  in  the  houses,  so  a 
good  light  exposure  there  will  do  as 
well  for  the  plants  as  anywhere,  but 
if  crowded  for  room  a  cold-frame  is 
quite  as  good  a  place  and  even  better 
as  you  can  remove  the  sash  entirely 
on  mild  days  and  thus  prepare  in 
the  best  way  for  planting  in  the  field. 
We  always  like  to  have  the  plants 
early  enough  to  have  pinched  or  stop- 
ped them  once  before  planting  out 
time. 

Field  Culture. 

Don't  put  off  planting  time.  The 
carnation  is  not  a  tender  plant;  it  is 
almost  a  truly  hardy  plant.  In  our 
latitude  the  end  of  April  or  very  early 
in  May  is  late  enough.  If  you  defer 
planting  till  end  of  May  you  have 
lost  a  month's  growth.  Perhaps  no 
crop  should  be  grown  year  after  year 
for  many  years  on  the  same  spot.  We 
know  this  is  very  wrong  for  some, 
but  we  have  grown  carnations  three 
consecutive  years  on  the  same  ground 
and  have  not  noticed  the  slightest  ill 
effects.  We  use  a  light  dressing  of 
stable  manure  every  spring  and  plow 
deep,  not  less  than  eight  inches. 

We  plant  12  inches  between  plants 
and  15  inches  between  rows  and  leave 
out  every  sixth  row.  Be  sure  to  plant 
in  straight  rows  both  ways;  that  al- 
lows you  to  run  your  Planet,  Jr.,  cul- 
tivator both  ways.  This  little  cultiva- 
tor saves  you  lots  of  labor  and  does 
about  all  the  work,  yet  two  or  three 
times  during  the  season  you  must  go 
over  them  with  the  hand  hoe  and 
loosen  up  the  soil  close  to  the  plants. 
We  don't  hoe  primarily  to  kill  weeds. 
We  hoe  or  cultivate  to  keep  the  soil 
loose,  and  incidentally  we  of  course 
destroy  all  the  weeds.  After  a  heavy 
rain  when  the  ground  is  just  friable 
seems  the  best  time  of  all  to  hoe.  Then 
the  operation  is  a  pleasure  and  it's  a 
blessing  to  the  plants.  You  can  al- 
most see  them  grow.  Yet  we  do  not 
always  wait  for  a  rain.  In  long  dry 
spells  in  June,  July  and  August  we 
cultivate  once  a  week. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


47 


For  years  I  practiced  and  preached 
watering  when  the  plants  were  put 
out.  Not  surface  watering,  but  a  lit- 
tle water  in  the  hole  around  the  plant 
and  then  filling  up  with  dry  soil.  That 
is  the  correct  way  to  plant  anything 
from  a  geranium  to  an  oak  tree;  in 
fact  the  only  way.  But  for  the  past 
two  seasons  we  have  not  done  that 
with  carnations  and  never  will  again; 
there  is  no  need  of  it.  There  is  plenty 
of  moisture  in  the  ground  and  rising 
from  its  depths  to  keep  the  plants  in 
good  order  till  we  get  a  rain.  There 
is  another  great  advantage  in  getting 
the  plants  out  early.  The  weather 
is  cool  and  you  will  catch  the  spring 
rains.  I  have  always  condemned  wa- 
tering during  summer  under  any  con- 
ditions and  know  that  it  is  unneces- 
sary and  wrong. 

Stopping  the  plant  by  pinching  out 
the  leading  shoots  is  one  of  the  most 
important  operations  connected  with 
carnation  culture.  If  not  stopped:  once 
before  planting  out  they  will  need  it 
very  shortly  afterward.  By  stopping 
the  leading  shoots  the  intent  is  to  pro- 
duce a  greater  number  of  growths.  A 
few  years  ago  we  discontinued  stop- 
ping the  plants  early  in  August  and 
did  not  lift  them  till  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember. The  plants  would  then  be  full 
of  buds  and  we  expected  to  go  right  on 
cutting  flowers  from  the  newly  lifted 
plants.  Such  flowers  as  we  then  pro- 
duced would  not  sell  at  any  price  to- 
day. With  hardly  an  exception  (the 
Scott  may  be  one)  no  carnation  should 
show  buds  at  lifting  time.  All  flower 
bearing  shoots  should  be  made  in- 
side, then  you  will  get  a  fairly  good 
stem  and  a  clean  flower.  The  plant 
should  have  its  powers  taxed  as  little 
as  possible  when  undergoing  the  trans- 


The  last  week  in  August  I  would  call 
the  ideal  time.  If  it  could  all  be  done 
then  so  much  the  better,  but  the  quan- 
tity handled  compels  large  growers 
to  extend  the  operation  from  Aug. 
15th  to  the  first  or  second  week  in 
September.  The  question  is  often 
asked  and  discussed — "Is  it  best  to  lift 
carnations  with  a  ball  of  earth?"  It 
is  a  foolish  question  to  an  old  carna- 
tion grower.  If  your  soil  is  of  a  light 
texture  it  will  be  impossible  to  lift 
with  any  ball,  and  most  undesirable  if 
you  could.  If  planted  in  a  clay  soil 
you  must  wait  for  a  rain  or  thorough- 
ly soak  the  plants  before  lifting.  Clay 
when  wet  is  as  friable  as  sandy  loam 
and  will  drop  off  and  leave  the  roots 
and  fibers  intact.  We  do  not  want  to 
retain  any  of  the  soil  that  they  occu- 
pied in  the  field,  but  we  do  want  all 
the  roots,  and  to  preserve  these  we 
raise  the  plants  with  the  aid  of  two 
digging  forks,  each  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  plant  and  six  or  seven  inches 
from  the  plant.  It  is  a  job  you  can 
work  hard  at,  but  it  should  not  be 
done  in  a  hurry. 

As  soon  as  the  plants  are  lifted  and 
the  soil  shaken  off  the  roots  they  are 
laid  in  flats  and  the  flats  carted  to 
the  door  of  the  greenhouse  and  then 
carried  to  the  planter  so  that  the  roots 
are  exposed  very  little.  It  is  not  un- 


Carnation  White  Cloud. 


planting  from  field  to  bench  and  the 
buds  and  flowers  would  be  the  great- 
est hindrance  to  a  speedy  and  success- 
ful start  under  the  new  conditions. 

Transplanting. 

Large  growers  cannot  fix  any  one 
week  as  the  time  for  lifting,  but  have 
to  begin  early  to  get  done  in  time. 


usual  for  us  to  just  strike  a  very  hot 
spell  for  this  operation.  I  have  been 
planting  carnations  more  than  once 
in  the  first  week  of  September  when 
the  thermometer  under  the  apple 
tree's  shade  was  90  degrees  and  under 
glass  110  degrees,  but  we  did  not 
postpone  the  work  "on  account  of  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather."  Oh,  no, 


48 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


we  kept  right  on,  and  I  don't  remem- 
ber of  losing  or  injuring  any  plants  by 
so  doing. 

At  the  risk  of  being  thought  ego- 
tistical I  will  say  that  we  do  not  lose 
any  plants  through  transplanting.  I 
have  time  and  again  noticed  that  in 
houses  holding  about  2,500  plants  we 
have  lost  none  up  to  the  following 
May;  in  others,  perhaps  one  plant.  I 


I  have  had  to  listen  more  than  once 
to  an  ex-farmer  carnation  grower  who 
would  inform  me  with  pride  and  pleas- 
antry that  his  boy  could  plant  four 
carnations  to  my  one.  The  best  an- 
swer to  that  is:  "You  don't  say  so!" 
with  pleasure  and  surprise  on  your 
features.  When  you  notice  in  a 
month's  time  that  half  of  those  "My 
boy  planted"  are  dead  or  dying  you 


A  Bunch  of  White  Carnations. 


have  read  of  growers  who  thought 
they  had  fair  success  if  they  did  not 
lose  more  than  10  per  cent.  A  loss  of 
5  per  cent  would  worry  us.  When  we 
consider  the  crude  and  ungardener- 
like  way  in  which  transplanting  is 
done  by  some  of  the  smaller  growers, 
or  men  who  have  perhaps  taken  to  the 
business  after  a  failure  at  many  other 
callings,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  loss- 
es are  10,  or  even  20  per  cent.  The 
great  evil  in  this  simple  but  impor- 
tant operation  is  that  the  beginner 
who  is  without  a  gardener's  education 
attempts  to  attain  speed  before  he  has 
gained  the  knowledge  "How  to  do  it." 


are  reconciled  to  your  old  slow  ways. 
I  am  not  by  any  means  encouraging 
slowness  (far  from  it),  but  learn  to 
plant  and  pot  and  shift  and  tie  prop- 
erly first,  and  then  when  performing 
any  of  these  operations  speed  will 
never  interfere  with  the  quality  of 
the  work. 

The  distance  between  plants  on  the 
bench  will  vary  some  with  the  varie- 
ties and  also  with  the  size  of  the 
plants.  McGowan  used  to  do  with 
eight  inches  between  the  plants  and 
ten  inches  between  the  rows.  Scott 
and  Daybreak,  when  fine  plants, 
should  be  ten  inches  apart  and  twelve 


inches  between  rows.  Two  years  ago 
it  was  very  rainy  and  our  carnation 
plants  -grew  so  fast  during  July  and 
August  that  both  the  last  mentioned 
varieties  needed  14  inches  between 
rows  and  by  Christmas  were  quite  as 
thick  as  health  would  allow.  Your 
good  sense  must  guide  you  in  this.  To 
plant  too  far  apart  is  not  economical, 
but  it  is  better  to  err  in  this  direc- 
tion than  to  crowd  them  overmuch, 
for  that  means  mildew  and  rotting  of 
the  lower  growths,  a  weakening  of  the 
whole  plant  and  poor,  weak  flowers. 
I  have  seen  them  so  closely  packed  in 
(because  the  owner  had  more  than  he 
needed  and  hated  to  see  any  perish 
in  the  field)  that  half  the  plants  rot- 
ted and  the  rest  were  useless.  Air 
and  daylight  should  have  access  to  the 
plant  on  each  side  if  you  expect  good 
flowers,  and  only  fine  flowers  will  re- 
turn a  profit  now-a-days. 

Twenty  years  ago  we  used  six  inches 
of  soil  in  the  bench  and  later  five 
inches  was  found  to  be  enough.  I  be- 
lieve that  four  inches  is  ample  to 
grow  any  carnation,  and  some  of  the 
finest  flowers  we  see  at  exhibitions 
are  grown  in  less,  but  I  would  say 
four  inches  is  about  right. 

Carnations  seem  to  do  fairly  well 
in  a  great  variety  of  soils.  Such 
sandy  loam  as  they  have  on  Long 
Island  is  undoubtedly  the  ideal  for 
most  of  the  varieties,  but  if  properly 
handled  a  varied  texture  of  soil  suits 
them.  Mr.  W.  N.  Rudd,  of  Mt.  Green- 
wood, 111.,  grows  prize-takers  in  the 
fat  prairie  land  of  his  state,  and  my 
neighbors,  W.  J.  Palmer  &  Son,  grow 
magnificent  Daybreaks  and  several 
others  in  a  stiff  loam  that  is  almost 
a  clay.  At  the  organization  of  the 
American  Carnation  Society  in  Phila- 
delphia there  was  a  discussion  as  to 
renewing  the  soil  annually  in  the 
benches.  I  was  surprised  to  hear  any 
one  say  that  they  grew  them  several 
years  in  the  same  old  soil.  We  had 
never  dreamed  of  such  a  thing,  but 
always  renewed  the  soil  every  sum- 
mer. Now  that  we  have  come  down  to 
only  four  inches  of  soil  I  would  cer- 
tainly advocate  a  change  of  every  par- 
ticle of  soil  annually. 

Our  method  is  to  plow  up  a  piece  of 
clover  sod  towards  the  end  of  May 
when  the  clover  has  made  a  good 
growth.  We  plow  five  inches  deep 
and  plow  and  cultivate  this  piece  fre- 
quently during  summer,  and  early  in 
July  spread  the  manure  on  the  surface 
and  plow  it  in,  and  then  add  the  bone 
flour  and  harrow  it  in.  We  will  most 
likely  have  had  a  rain  before  hauling 
in  the  soil  and  if  so  it  may  need  an- 
other run  over  with  the  cultivator, 
which  helps  to  distribute  the  manure 
and  bone.  It  is  then  hauled  to  the 
door  of  the  house  and  wheeled  on  to 
the  benches  or  got  in  by  the  most 
expeditious  method  that  you  can  de- 
vise. It  should,  however,  be  a  wheel- 
barrow or  small  tramway  and  truck; 
the  old  hand-barrow  is  killing,  and 
not  fit  work  for  bipeds,  black  or  white, 
male  or  female. 

We  try  to  get  about  a  sixth  or  sev- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


49 


enth  of  the  well  rotted  stable  manure 
into  the  soil.  The  horse  manure  is 
much  preferable  to  that  from  the  cow 
stable.  The  bone  should  be  of  the  best 
quality  and  very  finely  ground.  What 
we  know  as  bone  meal  is  often  too 
coarse  and  it  does  not  dissolve  in 
time  for  the  plants  to  have  received 
the  full  benefit  of  it,  so  we  get  the 
bone  flour.  A  5-inch  pot  of  bone  flour 
to  an  ordinary  wheelbarrow  of  soil  is 
not  too  much,  but  less  may  be  needed. 
You  can  find  out  how  much  this  is  to 
the  square  yard  or  rod. 

It  is  a  fact  that  occasionally  the  fin- 
est of  carnations  are  grown  without 
the  aid  of  any  manures,  either  artifi- 
cial or  animal;  it  has  happened  so 
with  me.  Last  year,  running  short  of 
bone,  we  used  a  grade  of  superphos- 
phate known  as  potato  phosphate  and 
the  result  was  quite  equal  to  that 
from  the  bone  and  it  was  much  less 
expensive.  Bone  black  is  also  excel- 
lent, and  many  growers  highly  prize 
wood  ashes.  If  I  were  unable  to  pro- 
cure both  bone  meal  and  the  stable 
manure  I  would  much  rather  depend 
on  the  bone  meal  or  superphosphate 
and  dispense  with  the  animal  manure, 
too  much,  of  which  produces  a  strong, 
but  soft  growth.  For  the  different 
composts  and  their  ingredients  I  must 
refer  you  to  the  reports  of  Professors 
Taft,  Arthur  and  Bailey,  or  to  our  ex- 
pert growers  like  Dorner  &  Sons. 

To  return  to   the  planting.     If  the 


House  of  Armazindy  Carnations. 

soil  is  very  dry  when  put  on  the 
bench  I  prefer  to  give  it  a  thorough 
soaking  a  day  or  two  before  planting. 
Make  a  wide  hole  with  the  trowel  (but 
your  hand  is  the  best  trowel)  and 
spread  the  roots  out  in  a  natural  way. 
Push  in  the  soil  on  the  roots,  and  I 
like  to  press  the  soil  firmly  around 
the  roots,  and  be  sure  not  to  put  the 
plant  any  deeper  than  it  was  growing 
in  the  field.  Deep  planting  has  killed 
lots  of  carnations.  While  you  are  mak- 
ing the  hole,  arranging  the  roots  and 
filling  in  the  soil  with  the  right  hand, 
the  plant  is  firmly  grasped,  with  its 
growth  inside  your  fingers,  by  the  left 
hand,  so  you  can  see  that  the  plant 
is  at  the  right  depth,  place  and  posi- 
tion, and  is  finished  off  neatly  in  every 
way.  An  earnest  workman  will  do 
all  this  well  and  neatly  much  quicker 
than  I  can  describe  it.  Some  may 
ask  what  may  be  considered  a  good 
day's  work  for  a  man  planting,  sup- 
posing the  plants  are  delivered  right 
to  his  handi  and  other  hands  water 
them.  I  would  be  quite  satisfied  with 
1,500  in  ten  hours'  work.  Any  faster 
than  this  would  raise  doubts  as  to  the 
quality  of  the  work.  Soil,  however, 
makes  a  difference,  and  an  upright 
grower  (like  Scott)  is  quicker  to  han- 
dle than  Daybreak,  which  is  spread- 
ing. 

House  Culture. 

The  first  week  in  the  houses  is  the 
most  critical  time  with  the  carnations. 


If  you  get  them  well  established  it 
will  take  a  lot  of  brutal  treatment  to 
kill  them,  although  continued  skillful 
management  is  needed  to  insure  best 
results.  I  am  very  particular  about 
the  first  watering.  It  should  be  suffi- 
cient to  thoroughly  wet  every  particle 
of  soil  on  the  bench,  and  I  am  not 
satisfied  till  I  see  it  dripping  through 
the  bottom  of  the  bench.  The  quantity 
of  water  will  depend  upon  the  dryness 
of  your  soil  when  planting.  We  shade 
the  first  week  after  planting  (and  I 
think  that  is  of  great  benefit)  by  sim- 
ply throwing  some  muddy  water  on 
the  glass.  A  lump  of  stiff  blue  clay 
dissolved  in  a  tub  of  water  and  the 
water  thrown  on  by  a  tin  dipper  will 
answer  every  purpose.  The  rain  soon 
washes  it  off  and  if  you  don't  get  a 
rain  the  hose  will  do  it  with  little 
trouble.  In  a  week,  or  at  least  in  ten 
days,  the  new  roots  will  be  active  in 
the  benches  and  no  more  shade  is 
wanted  till  the  following  May  or 
June. 

If  the  weather  is  hot  and  windy  I 
prefer  to  let  the  houses  be  hot  rather 
than  draughty.  A  cutting  wind  is  bad 
for  any  plant  when  its  roots  are  inact- 
ive, so  keep  the  ventilators  almost 
closed  for  the  first  few  days,  and  if 
the  nights  are  still  give  all  the  ventila- 
tion you  possibly  can  then.  You  will 
see  the  carnations  stand  up  in  the 
morning  as  if  they  had  grown  there 
all  summer.  The  cool  night  air  is 


50 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


their  salvation  and  the  hot,  dry  air  of 
daytime,  is  their  severe  ordeal.  We 
throw  water  around  the  house  and 
lightly  spray  the  plants  for  the  first 
few  days,  and  we  believe  (contrary  to 
scientific  exponents)  that  the  plants 
are  greatly  benefited  by  so  doing. 
After  the  first  week,  and  the  plants 
have  taken  hold,  we  ventilate  all  we 
possibly  can  day  and  night  and  entire- 
ly discontinue  all  syringing. 
No  part  of  my  endeavor  to  impart 


you  can,  day  and  night,  till  winter  sets 
in.  There  are  thousands  of  carnation 
houses  throughout  the  country  most 
inadequately  furnished  with  ventila- 
tion. Get  them  altered,  or  grow  some- 
thing else. 

In  a  week  or  ten  days  the  second 
watering  of  the  beds  is  needed,  but  no 
subsequent  watering  should  be  so  copi- 
ous as  the  first  one.  To  attempt  to 
tell  you  how  often  a  bed  needed  water- 
ing would  be  preposterous.  If  you 


Plant  of  Carnation  Jubilee. 


my  simple  knowledge  to  the  reader  is 
done  more  earnestly  than  that  regard- 
ing this  fall  management  of  the  car- 
nation. It  is  during  the  months  of 
September,  October  and  November 
that  so  many  promising  houses  of  car- 
nations are  ruined,  and  there  are  lots 
of  them  that  have  too  little  ventilation 
supplied  them,  and  many  growers  don't 
avail  themselves  of  the  means  of  ven- 
tilation that  they  have.  A  strong, 
sturdy,  healthy  plant  in  the  latter  part 
of  November  will  endure  a  lot  of  mis- 
management for  the  next  three 
months,  but  a  forced  up,  weak  plant 
at  that  date  will  never  repay  you  when 
the  dark  days  come.  Give  all  the  air 


can't  tell  by  sight  or  touch  when  the 
beds  are  dry  and  will  take  a  watering, 
I  might  as  well  try  to  describe  by 
words  a  sharp  or  a  flat  in  music  to  an 
ear  that  cannot  observe  it  when  heard. 
You  should  not  attempt  to  keep  a  bed 
or  potted  plant  always  at  one  degree  of 
moisture.  Extremes  are  bad,  but  it 
does  not  hurt  to  let  them  get  slightly 
on  the  dry  side  or  in  that  healthy  state 
when  a  watering  will  be  greatly  ap- 
preciated by  the  plant.  We  try  to  keep 
the  surface  of  the  beds  slightly  loosen- 
ed up  and  entirely  free  of  weeds  at  all 
times. 

Some   growers   tell   us   to   keep   the 
beds  free   of  weeds  and   "dry  leaves, 


which  should  be  removed."  I  am 
happy  to  state  that  we  have  not  had 
occasion  to  remove  any  dry  leaves 
for  some  years,  and  there  is  no  oc- 
casion to  have  any  if  the  plants  are 
properly  treated  during  the  first  month 
on  the  bench,  particularly  the  first 
week.  Some  of  our  best  growers  clean 
the  surface  of  the  beds  thoroughly  in 
October  and  November  and  then  put 
on  a  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
of  mulch,  which  feeds  surface  roots, 
prevents  the  drying  out  of  the  beds 
and  the  necessity  of  continually  stir- 
ring the  surface  of  the  soil.  It  is  an 
excellent  plan.  We  prefer  to  do  it, 
however,  in  February,  as  with  out- 
frequent  snows  and  dark  weather  the 
beds  dry  out  slowly.  For  the  mulch 
we  use  rotten  manure  and  loam,  half 
and  half,  and  before  putting  it  on  the 
bed  we  stir  the  surface  and  sprinkle 
on  a  good  dusting  of  bone  flour,  cover- 
ing the  bone  with  the  mulch.  If  you 
are  going  to  carry  your  carnations 
on  into  June  or  July  this  mulching  will 
be  of  the  greatest  benefit. 

I  don't  think  I  have  yet  said  any- 
thing about  temperature.  If  a  house  is 
very  light  the  day  temperature  is  not 
of  great  importance  providing  it  is 
high  enough.  It  is  certain  that  some 
varieties  do  better  in  lower  tempera- 
ture than  others.  Daybreak  flowers 
freely  in  a  night  temperature  of  45 
degrees,  Jubilee  wants  55  degrees  at 
night,  or  does  very  well  at  that,  but 
50  degrees  at  night  will  be  found  to 
suit  the  great  majority  of  varieties 
very  well,  and  is  high  enough  for  any 
if  first  class  flowers  and  a  continuous 
supply  is  expected.  All  of  them  should 
go  up  to  65  degrees  in  the  daytime, 
unless  the  weather  is  very  cold  and  it 
is  all  fire  heat;  then  stop  at  60  degrees. 
If  the  sun  is  shining  let  the  house  go 
up  to  70  degrees;  that  is  only  the  car- 
nation's natural  temperature.  Some 
growers  attribute  bursting  of  the  calyx 
largely  to  a  very  uneven  temperature; 
that  is,  letting  the  house  get  down 
some  nights  as  low  as  40  degrees  or 
less.  But  this  may  be  theory  only. 
The  nearer  you  can  keep  the  house 
to  50  degrees  at  night  and  to  65  to  70 
degrees  in  the  daytime,  or  noon,  the 
better  success  you  will  have.  A  little 
ventilation  should  be  given  for  a  short 
time  every  day  except  in  the  very  se- 
verest weather.  On  cloudy  days  when 
the  outside  temperature  is  perhaps  35 
to  40  degrees  it  is  economy  to  fire  up 
and  give  ventilation. 

Disbudding. 

Disbudding,  which  was  practiced  by 
few  ten  years  ago,  is  now  universally 
done  by  all  growers.  It  seems  a  great 
labor,  but  when  the  expense  is  spread 
over  every  hundred  carnations  you 
pick,  the  cost  is  extremely  small,  and 
more  than  that,  it  is  now  an  absolute 
necessity.  Disbudding  should  be  done 
every  week.  The  buds  develop  very 
quickly,  and  they  should  be  rubbed  off 
when  quite  small,  not  left  on  till  they 
are  almost  showing  color,  or  disbud- 
ding will  be  of  little  avail.  The  object 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


51 


of  disbudding  is  to  have  only  one  bud 
receive  the  whole  strength  of  the 
shoot.  If  you  allow  two  or  three  buds 
to  share  its  strength  till  they  are 
nearly  full  size  you  have  done  little 
good. 

Tying. 

The  matter  of  tying  is  of  the  great- 
est importance  and  a  considerable  part 
of  the  expense  of  growing  carnations. 
Thirty  years  ago  and  for  many  years 
thereafter  nothing  better  was  thought 
of  than  the  primitive  straight  stick, 
and  in  the  days  of  short-stemmed,  or 
really  stemless,  flowers,  it  did  very 
well.  Now-a-days  it  is  useless,  and 
the  advent  of  the  long-stemmed  flower 
has  compelled  us  to  use  some  better- 
method. 

A  great  many  devices  have  been 
thought  of  and  many  arrangements 
in  the  shape  of  wire  supports  invented, 
mostly  all  useless.  There  is,  however, 
one  device  of  wire  that  seems  pre-emi- 
nently ahead  of  anything  yet  invent- 
ed, and  which  it  seems  to  me  is  about 
perfect.  I  do  not  say  this  to  favor  any 
manufacturer,  but  in  justice  to  my 
readers  must  say  that  the  support 
known  as  the  "Model,"  made  in 
Brooklyn,  is  about  perfection.  The 
immense  quantities  used  by  our  larg- 
est growers  is  evidence  of  this.  The 
straight,  simple  stake,  the  large  stiff 


each  row  of  plants  crosswise  two 
strings  are  needed,  one  against  each 
row.  The  common  white  string  used 
by  grocers,  which  is  very  inexpensive, 
is  good  enough  for  this  purpose. 

Each    plant   is   then    confined    in    a 
square  made  by  the  wire  and  string. 


its  cost  spread  over  three  years  would 
make  it  the  cheapest  of  all  methods. 

Insects  and  Diseases. 

For  many  years  we  had  no  pests  to 
contend  with  except  our  common  ene- 
mies, the  aphis  and  red  spider.  A  few 


Mr.  Dorner's  Method  of  Tying. 


wire,  bent  into  a  gigantic  hairpin,  the 
wire  netting  and  many  other  schemes 
are  good. 

The  plan  used  first  by  Mr.  Dorner, 
and  now  generally  adopted,  is  very 
good,  and  with  many  varieties  answers 
the  purpose  well.  It  is  to  stretch  a 
strong  wire  (No.  14  or  16)  along  both 
sides  of  the  bench  about  six  inches 
above  the  soil,  and  between  each  row, 
lengthwise  of  the  bed,  a  lighter  wire. 
Then  from  the  two  outside  wires  a 
string  is  run  across  the  bed  and  near 
the  plants,  carrying  the  string  around 
each  wire  as  it  is  passed.  Between 


To  keep  the  wires  from  sagging  you 
will  want  a  lath  across  the  bed  at 
intervals,  and  strong  wooden  supports 
to  fasten  the  wires  to  at  each  end  of 
the  bed.  Another  tier  of  this  arrange- 
ment must  be  added  as  the  plants 
grow,  and  with  some  varieties  even 
a  third  will  be  needed  18  inches  above 
the  soil.  This  plan  answers  every 
purpose,  is  very  inexpensive,  is  quick- 
ly applied  and  altogether  satisfactory, 
but  it  is  not  nearly  equal  in  neatness, 
convenience,  or  for  the  growth  of  the 
plants  as  the  "Model"  support,  whose 
only  defect  now  is  its  first  cost.  But 


years  ago  the  "Rust"  was  imported 
and  became  a  great  scare.  Several 
other  diseases  were  lectured  upon,  and 
the  disease  and  its  causes  illustrated 
till  we  thought  the  cultivation  of  the 
carnation  was  doomed. 

Tobacco  smoke  destroys  the  aphis 
and  a  light  fumigation  should  be  often 
given.  The  fly  is  often  very  trouble- 
some to  the  buds.  We  have  not  seen 
red  spider  for  several  seasons,  al- 
though never  syringing.  More  air, 
more  room,  and  perhaps  the  sulphur 
which  is  put  on  the  heating  pipes  ev- 
ery fall,  may  have  helped  to  prevent 
the  spider  from  flourishing.  If  it  does 
appear  in  May,  syringing  is  the  best 
cure,  but  it  is  difficult  to  dislodge. 

The  rust  was  a  few  years  ago  most 
discouraging.  There  are  few  varieties 
that  it  does  not  attack,  but  there  are 
some;  Flora  Hill  and  Scott  are  two 
that  I  have  never  yet  seen  troubled 
with  it.  There  have  been  many  mix- 
tures advocated  for  its  cure  or  preven- 
tion, chief  of  which  is  the  Bordeaux 
mixture  with  which  we  sprayed  the 
plants.  Little  heed  is  now  given  to 
any  cure  for  the  rust,  many  believing 
that  the  cure  was  as  bad  as  the  disease, 
yet  the  rust  is  disappearing,  and 
troubles  us  little;  not  because  we  have 
killed  the  disease  or  its  spores,  but 
because  we  have  better  understanding 
of  the  conditions  least  favorable  to  the 
rust's  existence,  chief  of  which  are  ab- 
sence of  moisture  on  the  leaf,  air  and 
light  between  the  plants,  more  and 
better  ventilation,  earlier  planting  and 
more  vigor  of  growth. 

With  the  exception  of  dipping  the 
cuttings  before  and  after  being  in  the 
sand  we  leave  fungicides  alone.  We 


52 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


use  the  ammoniacal  mixture  for  the 
purpose,  but  if  you  prefer  the  Bordeaux 
mixture  you  can  obtain  it  in  pulp  form 
and  dilute  it  as  you  need  it.  Benj. 
Hammond,  Fishkill-on-Hudson,  N.  Y., 
prepares  the  pulp  in  convenient  sized 
cans  and  saves  you  the  trouble  of  mak- 
ing it.  I  believe  that  one  pipe  on  each 
side  of  the  house  painted  with  sulphur 
is  of  great  assistance  in  keeping  down 
both  red  spider  and  rust.  I  saw  this 
demonstrated  in  the  case  of  a  house  of 
Daybreaks  in  my  neighborhood.  They 
were  in  a  house  formerly  used  for 
roses  and  overhead  was  a  3-inch  flow 
pipe,  which  had  been  about  covered 
with  sulphur  for  the  benefit  of  the 
roses.  While  several  establishments 
on  every  side  of  this  house  had  their 
Daybreaks  black  with  rust  not  a  grain 
of  it  appeared  in  this  house,  and  this 
was  for  the  three  years  during  which 
the  rust  was  most  troublesome.  No 
other  preventive  than  this  unconscious 
one  was  used. 

Varieties. 

It  would  be  futile  to  mention  or  re- 
commend any  particular  varieties. 
Grow  what  you  can  grow  best  and  that 
suit  your  soil  best.  Flora  Hill  and 
White  Cloud  are  grand  whites;  G.  H. 
Crane  and  Jubilee  are  fine  scarlets; 
Mayor  Pingree  and  Gold  Nugget  are 
great  yellows;  Mrs.  Geo.  M.  Bradt  is 
a  wonderful  variegated  flower,  and  so 
is  Helen  Keller  when  well  grown;  old 
Wm.  Scott  and  Daybreak  are  still 
standards  in  many  places.  In  pinks 
there  is  a  host  of  new  aspirants  for 
favor  and  the  most  promising  of  all  I 
have  seen  grown  and  flower  and  sell  is 
The  Marquis.  In  every  shade,  from 
the  dark  Gen.  Gomez  to  the  beautifully 
tinted  J.  Whitcomb  Riley  we  will  have 
a  chance  to  please  our  patron's  fancy. 


An  Exhibition  of  the  American  Carnation  Society. 

Sub-Watering. 

Sub-watering,  by  Prof.  Arthur's 
plan,  with  the  watertight  bench  and 
bricks  on  edge  is  yet  in  the  experi- 
mental stage.  It  seems  to  me  almost 
impossible  that  saturated  bricks  can 
impart  to  the  soil  sufficient  moisture. 
We  must  wait  for  further  trials  before 
going  to  any  great  expense  in  this  di- 
rection. 


The  method  of  sub-watering  adopted 
and  explained  by  Prof.  Taft,  of  the 
Michigan  Agricultural  College,  has 
proven  a  great  success.  He  makes  his 
bench  nearly  water  tight  by  nailing 
sound  boards  or  planks  as  tightly  to- 
gether as  possible  and  runs  cement 
over  the  benches  and  between  joints. 
In  a  5  or  6-inch  width  of  bench  he  lays 
two  runs  of  common  2-inch  drain  tile. 
The  last  tile  at  the  end  is  raised  to 


Carnation  Gold  Nugget. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


53 


Model  Extension 
Carnation  Support 


Now  regarded  as  the  Standard 
Support,  and  by  far  the  best  yet 
offered. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  give  a  few 
of  many  testimonials  from  some  of 
our  best  growers. 


BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  13, 1899. 
THERON  PARKER. 

DEAR  SIR:  Your  Model  Carnation 
Support  is  the  best  thing  I  have  yet 
tried.  In  fact,  it  is  about  ideal.  I  used 
it  this  winter  on  Scotts,  Flora  Hill,  Mrs. 
Bradt  and  Genesee.  The  principle  is 
perfect  but  experience  may  teach  us 
that  in  some  varieties,  for  instance 
Daybreak,  the  lower  ring  might  with 
advantage  be  two  inches  lower.  If  I 
could  afford  the  first  cost,  at  once,  I 
would  not  think  of  using  anything  but 
the  "Model." 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

WILLIAM  SCOTT. 


0 


A  lower  sd  circle 
can  be  supplied 
for  bushy  plants. 


W.  HOBOKEN,  N.  J.,  Feb.  18, 1897. 
Mr.  THERON  PARKER, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
DEAR  SIR:    It  gives  me  much  pleas- 
ure to  congratulate  you  upon  your  success  in  getting  up 
Carnation  Supports.    I  think  that  those  I  have  had  from 
you  are  about  as  perfect  as  anybody  will  be  able  to 
make  them.    They  certainly  fill  my  bill  for  an  ideal  car- 
nation support,  a  thing  I  have  been  looking  for  for  a  long 
time.  Wishing  you  every  success  in  the  sale  of  them,  I  am, 
Yours  truly, 

E.  ASMUS. 


Model  Model 

Rose  Stake.     Plant  Support. 


The  MODEL  Rose  Stake 

is  new  and  regarded  by  all  who 
have  seen  it  as  a  decided  improve- 
ment on  the  straight  steel  stake 
(We  supply  either.)  It  is  so  con- 
structed as  not  to  be  dangerous  in  working  among 
them,  being  looped  at  the  top  and  pointed  at  the  bot- 
tom. When  supported  by  overhead  wire  this  wire  is 
passed  through  the  loop  and  they  do  not  require  tying. 

The  MODEL  Plant  Support 

is  new  and  designed  to  supplant  the  old  wooden  stake, 
being  superior  in  every  respect.  A  firm  anchor,  neat, 
even  ornamental,  durable,  cheap.  (PATENTED.) 

The  MODEL  Extension  Circle 

for   Christmas  Wreaths It  is 

crimped  and  facilitates  firm  tying. 
Is  quickly  reduced  from  16  inches 
in  diameter  to  any  smaller  size 
needed.  Is  neat  and  cheap  as  one 
could  wish. 


Model 
Extension  Circle. 


In  offering  our  products  to  the  trade,  we  are  convinced  that  there  is  noth- 
ing yet  produced  to  equal  them,  or  likely  to  be,  and  shall  be  pleased  to  receive 
correspondence  in  regard  to  them.  Samples  forwarded  free  to  all  who  will 
pay  express  charges,  and  will  deduct  this  on  first  order. 

THE  MODEL  PLANT  STAKE  CO. 


226  No. 


THERON  PARKER,  Mgr,,  Inventor  and  Patentee,        &  street,  BROOKLYN,  N,  Y 


the  surface  so  that  the  hose  can  be 
put  in  when  watering  is  needed.  The 
water  runs  through  pipes  and  out  at 
every  joint,  thoroughly  wetting  the 
soil.  This  is  real  sub-watering. 

Every  50  feet  there  should  be  the 
means  of  supplying  the  drain  tile  with 
water,  and  do  not  expect  the  water  to 
run  too  far,  as  you  might  overwater 
near  the  inlet  and  leave  the  further 
end  on  the  dry  side.  This  plan  has 
given  the  best  results,  and  its  advant- 
age in  spring  and  summer  can  be  easily 
seen,  as  then  is  the  time  the  roots  want 
a  soaking,  and  for  applying  liquid 
manure  it  is  excellent.  There  is  no 
wetting  of  the  foliage  nor  baking  of 
the  surface  by  heavy  overhead  water- 
ing. This  plan  of  sub-watering  is 
worthy  of  trial  by  all  of  us. 

Houses. 

When  the  carnation  first  became  an 
important  flower  with  iis  any  house 
was  used  to  grow  them  in.  Now  thou- 
sands of  houses  are  built  expressly  for 
the  purpose.  There  is  none  better  than 
a  22  foot  house  (22  feet  from  outside 
to  outside  of  posts).  This  will  give  you 
three  benches,  each  5  feet  wide  and 
four  paths,  each  1%  feet  wide,  with 
heating  pipes  on  the  side  wall  where 
there  is  no  contact  with  the  plants. 
The  ridge  should  run  east  and  west,  or 
better  still,  northeast  and  southwest. 
Ample  ventilation  should  be  given  by 
continuous  ventilating  sash  on  the 
south  side  of  ridge  and  in  both  walls. 


CARNATIONS 

FIELD-GROWN  PLANTS 

Are  one  of  our  specialties. 
Send  for  price  list. 

J.  L.  DILLON,  Bloomsburg,  Pa. 


This   side   ventilation   will   be  of   the 
greatest  benefit  in  fall  and  spring. 

Some  growers  prefer  to  plant  in  solid 
beds  on  the  ground.  It  may  save  ma- 
terial, and  in  late  spring  they  don't 
dry  out  so  fast,  but  the  benches  pro- 
duce quite  as  fine  flowers  and  are 
much  more  convenient  to  work.  And 
liquid  manure  can  be  applied  to  the 
benches  easier  and  with  better  results 
than  to  the  solid  beds. 

CELOSIA. 

Celosia  cristata  (the  cockscomb)  is 
not  as*  often  or  generally  seen  as  its 
striking  and  novel  appearance  de- 
serves. It  is  seldom  seen  in  our 
greenhouses,  perhaps  because  when  at 
its  best  the  glass  structure  is  a  hot, 
sweltering  place,  August  and  Septem- 
ber being  its  usual  time  of  flowering. 
Our  hot  summers  suit  the  cockscomb 
as  it  does  all  of  the  celosias,  for  they 
like  heat.  Last  year  we  saw  a  large 
oval  bed,  the  surface  of  which  was 
covered  with  Tom  Thumb  sweet 
alyssum,  and  every  two  feet  was  dot- 


THE  COTTAGE  GARDENS, 

QUEENS,  N.  Y. 

(LONG  ISLAND), 

carry  at  all   times   the    finest   and  most 
select  line  of  Seedling 

Carnations 

in  the  world.    Rooted  Cuttings  and  Field 
Grown  Plants  of  the  best  standard  sorts. 

Strong,  Vigorous, 

Well  Grown  Stock. 

AMERICAN  ROSE  CO. 

SPECIALISTS  IN 

Carnation  Seeds  and  Plants, 

CONTRACTS  Solicited  for 

PEDIGREE  SEEDS. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


A  New 


Hybrid  Carnations, 

Crossings  between  Remontant  and  Marguerite 
varieties.  They  are  what  we  can  recommend 
as  truly  summer  flowering  varieties.  Offered 
for  the  first  time.  For  particulars  address 

C  EISELE, 

11th  and  Jefferson  Sts..  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


54 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


ted  in  a  cockscomb.  It  was  a  "pin 
cushion"  bed,  and  very  striking  and 
pleasing  it  was. 

When  to  'be  used  as  a  bedding  plant, 
sow  seed  of  this  celosia  in  March,  and 
as  soon  as  the  little  plants  can  be 
handled  transplant  into  flats  one  inch 
apart.  When  still  larger  they  should 
be  shifted  into  3-inch  pots,  from  which 
they  can  be  bedded  out. 

If  grown  as  a  pot  plant,  shift  from 
the  3-inch  to  a  5-inch  pot,  which  is  as 
large  as  they  should  have,  or  a  6-inch 
at  most.  In  growing  a  specimen  in  a 
pot,  the  prime  object  is  to  get  a  fine, 
broad  head  on  a  very  dwarf  plant,  and 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  attain  per- 
fection unless  they  are  grown  in  hot- 


pots, but  here  our  summers  suit  them 
finely  out  of  doors.  They  can  be  plant- 
ed out  in  the  border  after  all  danger 
of  frost  has  passed. 

Celosia  pyramidalis  makes  a  fine 
plant.  It  grows  18  inches  to  2  feet 
high  and  should  not  be  planted  closer 
than  15  inches  apart. 

C.  Huttonii  has  very  beautiful  red 
spikes  of  flowers  and  crimson  foliage. 
It  is  worth  lifting  and  growing  in 
pots. 

CENTAUREA. 

The  plants  the  florist  grows  under 
this  name  are  both  white  and  silvery 
leaved  plants. 

C.  candidissima  (this  I  think  should 


Cockscomb  (Celosia  Cristata.) 


beds,  with  their  heads  near  the  glass. 
When  the  heat  of  the  bed  is  entirely 
gone,  shift  and  remove  to  a  fresh  one. 
They  like  heat  at  the  roots  as  well  as 
at  the  top.  When,  growing  freely,  and 
particularly  when  forming  their  im- 
mense "combs,"  they  must  never  be 
stunted  from  lack  of  water;  and  from 
the  time  they  are  in  3-inch  pots,  to 
insure  a  more  even  moisture  at  the 
roots  the  pots  should  be  plunged.  They 
want  little  shade,  and  that  not  till  the 
end  of  May;  then  it  should  be  only 
during  the  hottest  hours  of  the  day. 
Their  successful  culture  can  be  sum- 
med up  thus:  A  very  rich  soil,  abun- 
dance of  water,  perfect  light,  and  a 
warm,  humid  atmosphere. 

Few  insects  trouble  them.  If  aphis 
appears,  manage  to  give  them  a  mild 
smoking,  even  if  they  are  in  a  frame. 
A  cockscomb  poorly  grown  is  a  very 
commonplace  plant,  but  when;  done  to 
perfection  it  is  a  wonder. 

Besides  C.  cristata  there  are  other 
celosias  that  are  very  handsome  for 
the  mixed  border.  In  Europe  they 
are  grown  for  indoor  decoration  in 


be  ragusina)  is  a  very  fine,  silvery 
leaved  plant  and  was  once  more  large- 
ly grown  than  at  present.  Its  fine 
entire  leaf  was  grand  for  the  edge 
of  beds  or  long  ribbon  borders. 

It  is  an  almost  hardy  plant  and  ex- 
cept when  being  propagated  requires 
but  little  heat  in  the  winter  time.  One 
reason  why  this  good  bedding  plant  is 
not  more  often  grown  is  that  it  has 
the  bad  habit  of  rotting  off  in  summer 
and  leaving  an  unsightly  gap  in  the 
bed  or  border. 

If  raised  from  seed  sow  not  later 
than  September  and  grow  along  on  a 
light,  cool  shelf  all  winter.  By  bed- 
ding out  time  you  will  have  a  plant 
in  a  3-inch  pot,  which  is  none  too 
large.  If  propagated  by  cuttings  lift 
a  number  of  old  plants  in  October.  A 
good  many  of  the  old  leaves  can  be 
shortened  or  cut  away.  During  winter 
cut  up  the  old  plant,  from  which  you 
will  get  a  number  of  cuttings.  They 
are  really  more  nearly  divisions  or 
offshoots.  They  root  with  ordinary 
care  in  the  sand,  and  must  be  grown 
on  cool  and  light. 


C.  gymnocarpa,  the  kind  with  divide 
ed,  feathery  leaves,  is  not  as  clear 
and  distinct  a  bedding  plant,  (but  is 
more  generally  useful.  It  is  used  large- 
ly in  our  vases  and  veranda  boxes  as 
well  as  for  the  edging  of  large  beds. 

It  is  always  raised  from  seed,  which 
sow  in  flats  in  January.  They  should 
be  grown  on  light  and  cool,  but  not 
starved  for  want  of  pot  room.  A  hot- 
bed makes  them  jump,  but  produces 
too  rank  a  growth.  By  middle  of  April 
they  should  go  into  a  3  or  3 V^ -inch 
pot  and  be  plunged  in  a  cold  frame 
where  they  will  make  sturdy,  useful 
plants. 

CHEIRANTHUS  (Wall  Flower.) 

If  it  were  not  for  seeing  a  plant  of 
this  old  favorite  perennial  occasional- 
ly in  our  public  markets  we  would 
forget  them  entirely.  The  Germans 
have  raised  some  fine  strains  of  these 
most  fragrant  flowers  and  their  peo- 
ple are  always  fond  of  them. 

If  you  buy  seed  of  the  best  double- 
flowered  strain  you  will  be  sure  to 
get  some  singles  among  them.  The 
prevailing  colors  are  red,  brown  and 
yellow.  Were  it  not  for  its  odor  the 
flower  would  not  be  highly  prized,  but 
few  flowers  have  a  fragrance  that 
pleases  everybody  as  doesi  the  wall 
flower. 

For  the  border  the  seed  can  be  sown 
in  August  and  the  seedlings  planted 
out  in  a  cold-frame,  protected  during 
winter1  and  transplanted  to  their  per- 
manent quarters  when  the  ground  is 
dry. 

For  raising  in  pots  sow  in  April  and 
May  and  plant  out  in  the  open  ground 
in  June.  Lift  in  October  and  winter 
them  in  a  well  protected  cold-frame, 
or  better  yet,  in  a  very  cool  house, 
where  they  will  throw  up  their  spikes 
of  flowers  in  May  or  earlier. 

CHRYSANTHEMUM. 

For  a  hundred  years  the  chrysan- 
themums have  had  periods  of  great 
popularity  and  then  of  neglect.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  with 
the  American  public  the  tide  of  pres- 
ent popularity  is  now  just  at  the  flood 
and  the  craze  of  10  years  ago  has 
slightly  subsided,  yet  not  to  any  great 
extent.  There  is  no  longer  a  dozen 
firms  each  sending  out  a  new  set  an- 
nually at  Klondike  prices,  for  which 
we  must  be  devoutly  thankful.  An 
aspirant  for  public  favor  now  must  be 
about  perfect  and  a  slight  advance  on 
preceding  kinds.  A  few  new  ones 
each  year  is  an  abundance  and  even 
those  are  offered  at  a  price  that  allows 
us  to  give  them  a  trial.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve that  chrysanthemums  will  ever 
drop  from  public  favor,  as  say  for  in- 
stance the  camellia,  for  it  has  many 
noble  attributes  to  make  it  annually 
welcome.  The  perfection  to  which  they 
are  now  grown  is  something  former 
generations  knew  nothing  of  and  the 
flower-buying  public  of  30  years  ago 
was  so  insignificant  compared  with  to- 
day that  it  could  be  truthfully  said  to 
be  non-existent. 

The  commercial  florist  is  interested 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


55 


Exhibition  Chrysanthemum  Plants. 


mostly  in  the  cut  blooms  and  in  a 
much  smaller  extent  in  a  medium  sized 
plant  in  a  pot.  Cultural  directions  for 
both  will  be  found  below.  The  stand- 
ards and  large  specimens  are  left  to 
the  private  gardener  who  has  time, 
money  and  space. 

A  Commercial  Flower. 

Take  note  during  flowering  season 
of  varieties  wanted  for  your  next  sea- 
son's crop  and  remember  that  if  few 
varieties  are  grown  it  simplifies  labor 
and  expense,  and  there  are  so  many  to 
choose  from  that  color,  form  and  sea- 
son can  be  all  covered  by  varieties 
that  you  have  found  easy  to  grow. 
Select  plants  for  future  stock  that 
have  produced  the  best  flowers,  mark- 
ing them  before  the  flowers  are  cut. 
Lift  sufficient  plants  and  place  them 
in  flats,  keeping  them  after  first  water- 
ing rather  on  the  dry  side  in  a  cool 
house  until  time  to  start  them  grow- 
ing to  produce  cuttings.  Do  not  use 
any  weak  shoots  for  cuttings.  Throw 
them  away,  it  will  afford  room  for 
the  stronger  to  develop.  Chrysanthe- 
mums root  readily  in  sand  or  finely 
sifted  coal  ashes  in  an  ordinary  pro- 
pagating bed  until  end  of  May  or  early 
June.  After  that  date  you  will  be 
more  successful  with  a  bed  in  a  cold 
frame,  shaded  with  cloth,  lath  or  shad- 
ed glass,  tilted  back  and  front  to  in- 
sure a  free  circulation  of  air;  and  the 
bed  must  be  kept  copiously  watered; 
this  is  very  important.  You  often  see 
chrysanthemum  cuttings  drying  and 
wilting  in  June  and  July.  They  have 
been  allowed  to  get  dry  or  the  sun  has 
been  shining  on  them,  so  water  copi- 
ously twice  a  day  in  fine  weather. 

The  'best  time   to  propagate  varies 
with    the    different    varieties   and    the 


size  of  flowers  wanted.  For  large  long 
stemmed  flowers  of  early  varieties, 
such  as  Ivory,  Bergmiann,  Bonnaffon 
(Bonnaffon  can  be  grown  early)  and 
other  dwarf  sorts,  February  is  not  too 
early  to  put  in  the  first  batch.  From 
that  time  on  propagating  can  be  con- 
tinued until  August.  For  late  flowers, 
many  of  the  free  growing  varieties  do 
well  and  produce  fine  flowers  on  side 
benches  from  late  cuttings.  Those 
propagated  as  late  as  August  can  be 
planted  on  the  benches  direct  from 
propagating  bed  without  any  potting, 
and  will  grow  from  the  start  if  kept 
sprinkled  and  shaded  for  a  few  days 
during  the  hottest  hours  of  the  day. 
Earlier  rooted  cuttings  that  have  to 
be  potted  will  want  a  2  or  21/£rinch  pot. 
Let  them  be  well  rooted  before  pot- 
ting. Use  a  moderately  heavy  soil  and 
not  too  rich.  When  well  hold  of  the 
soil  in  the  pots  a  side  bench  of  a  car- 
nation or  violet  house  will  suit  the 
young  plants  of  most  varieties  finely, 
always  giving  them  as  much  air  as 
possible  and  room  to  grow  without 
drawing  up.  The  earliest  struck  batch- 
es will  require  a  3  or  S^-mch  pot  be- 
fore planting  out  time.  Some  of  our 
finest  varieties  which  have  a  tendency 
to  produce  a  flower  larger  than  the 
stem  can  hold  erect  will  be  greatly 
benefited  by  having  three  or  four 
weeks  out  of  doors  before  planting  on 
the  bench.  Such  varieties  which  are 
weak  necked  should  be  grown  slow 
and  hard  wooded  and  should  never 
from  the  time  they  are  rooted  be  al- 
lowed to  attain  a  soft,  rank  growth. 

The  early  varieties  should  be  plant- 
ed on  benches  in  four  inches  of  soil; 
raised  benches  with  good  drainage  will 
enable  you  to  control  the  growth  and 
ripening  of  the  wood.  The  late  varie- 
ties are  all  right  in  solid  beds,  provid- 


ing the  texture  of  the  soil  and  drain- 
age is  right. 

A  heavy,  free  loam  that  the  water 
will  pass  through  freely,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  one-fifth  of  rotted  cow  ma- 
nure and  a  liberal  sprinkling  of  pure 
bone  flour  will  be  an  excellent  com- 
post. A  "liberal  sprin-kling"  is  rather 
indefinite,  so  I  will  say  one  pint  to  a 
bushel  of  soil  can  be  used  safely.  If  it 
were  mixed  with  the  soil  a  month  or 
two  months  before  planting,  so  much 
the  better.  The  chrysanthemum  is 
called  a  free  and  even  rank  grower, 
but  over  rich  soil  produces  very  large 
soft  flowers.  The  flowers  produced 
on  a  soft  forced  growth  are  in  poor 
condition  to  withstand  the  handling 
they  have  to  undergo  before  they 
reach  the  retail  counter  and  to  pro- 
duce durable,  firm  flowers  a  well  ma- 
tured growth  of  the  wood  is  as  neces- 
sary as  is  a  good,  dry  house  and  abun- 
dance of  fresh  air. 

This  unnaturally  stimulated  growth 
may  not  be  the  whole  cause  of  the 
rust,  which  is  fatal  to  some  of  our  best 
varieties,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  puts 
the  plant  in  an  excellent  condition  to 
be  attacked  by  the  disease.  The  rust 
usually  appears  in  September  and  lat- 
er when  there  is  promise  of  great 
flower  buds.  It  is  then  that  we  are 
subject  to  great  changes  of  tempera- 
ture. If  the  growth  is  soft  it  is  due  to 
either  too  rich  a  soil  or  too  much 
water  at  the  roots  or  even  too  much 
moisture  in  the  house,  produced  by 
water  not  draining  off  freely  under  the 
paths  and  benches. 

That  grand  variety  Golden  Wedding 
has  been  grown  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Buffalo  since  its  introduction.  We 
hear  of  its  failure  in  many  places,  but 
where  there  is  no  stagnant  water  in 
the  house,  and  the  roots  have  received 
it  sparingly,  and  planted  in  a  soil  that 
water  passes  freely  through,  I  have 
not  seen  a  vestige  of  disease  on  it. 
This  grand  golden  yellow  will  hold  its 
own  with  any  new  varieties,  particu- 
larly when  the  grower  will  learn  to 
withhold  water.  It  cannot  be  done 
right  in  a  soil  that  the  water  does  not 
pass  freely  through. 

To  sum  up  this  particular  point,  en- 
courage a  free  growth  till  buds  are 
selected,  then  gradually  withhold  wa- 
ter which  matures  the  wood  and  as- 
sists bud  formation.  To  the  inexpe- 
rienced let  me  say  that  no  serious 
check  in  growth  must  be  given  but 
merely  less  water  than  formerly, 
which  will  firm  the  growth. 

For  early  varieties,  where  crown 
buds  are  used,  care  must  be  taken  not 
to  resume  free  watering  until  the  buds 
are  well  formed,  otherwise  we  will  not 
get  perfect  flowers,  but  many  unsala- 
ble ones.  After  the  buds  are  well  form- 
ed the  judicious  use  of  animal  manure, 
either  in  the  shape  of  a  mulch  or  li- 
quid, is  safe  and  beneficial.  I  prefer 
to  apply  in  a  liquid  form,  as  we  can 
keep  better  track  of  the  condition  of 
the  soil. 

While  a  free  circulation  is  at  all 
times  necessary  as  well  as  keeping  the 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


house  dry,  from  the  time  the  buds 
show  color  till  the  flowers  are  cut,  a 
gentle  fire  heat  should  also  be  put  on 
as  soon  as  we  get  cool,  damp  weather 
and  the  ventilators  kept  open  day  and 
night  as  long  as  possible.  A  sprink- 
ling of  air  slaked  lime  at  intervals 
through  the  growing  season  under  the 
benches  and  walks  will  keep  the  at- 
mosphere sweet  and  help  the  plants. 

The  chrysanthemum  is  afflicted  with 
most  of  the  plant  enemies  we  have  to 
contend  with.  The  black,  yellow  and 
green  aphis  can  be  kept  down  with  a 
moderate  but  regular  smoking,  but 
make  sure  to  clear  them  of  all  aphis 
before  the  buds  are  far  advanced. 
Thrip  and  red  spider  sometimes  make 
their  attacks  during  hot  spells,  but 
can  be  kept  down  by  a  proper  use  of 
the  hose. 

When  the  young  plants  are  set  in 
the  soil  of  the  bench  give  them  a  thor- 
ough watering  to  settle  the  soil  around 
the  roots.  Plant  all  varieties  firmly. 
For  tall  growing  sorts  inclined  to 
weak  stems,  a  uniform  pounding  of  the 
soil  after  the  plants  have  made  new 
roots  will  .make  the  root  action  slower 
and  stronger  and  the  stem  will  be 
correspondingly  stronger  and  shorter 
jointed. 

Be  always  very  careful  when  water- 
ing, particularly  with  the  early  varie- 
ties, and  a  good  look  over  the  bench 
before  you  begin  will  make  you  aware 
of  spots  in  the  bed  that  may  go  an- 
other day  or  two.  I  have  often  no- 
ticed that  where  all  parts  of  the  bench 
were  watered  alike,  the  outside  rows 
came  into  flower  considerably  earlier 
than  the  interior  plants.  The  outside 
rows  getting  more  light  and  air  dry 
out  quicker,  thus  hastening  bud  forma- 
tion. By  care  in  keeping  the  bench 
at  an  even  degree  of  moisture  you  can 
bring  in  a  crop  evenly,  which  is  a 
consideration  both  as  to  price  you  get 
for  your  flowers  and  your  ability  to 
clean  up  the  bench  for  succeeding 
crops.  Syringe  during  the  growing 
season  once  or  twice  a  day,  as  the 
weather  may  require,  but  always  al- 
low the  foliage  to  dry  before  night. 

In  using  liquid  manure  do  not  apply 
when  the  soil  is  very  dry.  If  applied 
after  a  moderate  watering  there  is  less 
danger  of  over  feeding  and  feeding 
should  be  discontinued  entirely  after 
the  flowers  show  color.  In  concluding 
these  rather  lengthy  remarks  on  wa- 
tering I  will  say  when  you  do  water 
be  sure  that  it  is  enough  to  wet  the 
soil  clear  through  to  the  boards  of  the 
bench  or  bottom  of  the  pot  as  the  case 
may  be.  When  you  have  acquired  the 
science  of  watering  and  practice  it 
carefully,  wisely  and  faithfully  you 
will  have  gained  about  17  points  out 
of  20  towards  being  a  good  gardener. 

August  the  10th  is  as  early  as  it  is 
generally  advisable  to  take  the  buds  of 
the  earliest  varieties  and  those  will  be 
"crowns."  In  taking  or  selecting  buds 
the  side  growths  must  be  taken  out  as 
soon  as  large  enough  to  rub  off  with 
the  thumb  and  the  plants  kept  quiet 
until  the  buds  are  well  formed.  The 
crown  being  an  unnatural  bud  re- 


quires considerable  care  to  insure  its 
producing  a  perfect  bloom.  Terminal 
buds  are  the  safest  and  in  most  varie- 
ties produce  the  best  flowers,  while 
crowns  are  earliest  and  should  be  used 
for  that  purpose,  if  properly  under- 
stood. 

All  flowers  should  be  cut  and  placed 
in  water  at  least  18  hours  before  being 
put  on  the  counter  or  shipped  to  the 
retailer.  Varieties  that  easily  drop 
their  petals,  as  some  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful do,  and  yet  desirable,  should  be 
in  water  36  hours.  This  will  harden 
the  flowers  and  hold  the  petals.  If  the 
flowers  are  to  be  shipped  it  is  time 
well  spent  to  pack  with  the  greatest 
care  so  they  arrive  at  their  destina- 
tion as  perfect  as  wheji  they  were  cut. 

I  know  of  no  better  way  to  tie  or 
support  the  stems1  of  chrysanthemums 
than  by  running  wire  across  the  bench 
near  every  row  and  a  corresponding 
wire  above  the  plants,  keeping  the  up- 
per wire  well  up.  From  the  wire  on  the 
bench  to  the  one  above  run  a  string 
for  every  plant.  The  cheapest  string 
you  can  buy  is  good  enough.  Thisi  is 
easily  disposed  of  when  the  crop  is  cut. 
You  may  throw  away  the  bottom  wire 
but  the  upper  one  is  not  likely  to  be 
in  your  way  and  will  do  duty  for  sev- 
eral years.  Anyone  adopting  this  plan 
will  never  again  resort  to  stakes  of 
any  kind,  unless  it  is  for  late  struck 
batches  on  side  benches. 

Chrysanthemums  can  be  planted 
much  closer  than  they  often  are,  but 
that  will  depend  on  how  many  flow- 
ers you  intend  to  grow  to  each  plant, 
and  that  again  is  controlled  by  what 
your  trade'  demands.  Three  at  the 
most  is  all  you  should  expect  from  any 
plant,  and  I  believe  it  most  satisfac- 
tory all  'round  to  grow  but  one  stem 
and  one  flower  on  any  plant,  and  then 
plant  thickly.  The  rows  8  inches  apart 
and  the  plants  6  inches  apart  in  the 
rows  will  do  for  all  the  moderate-sized 
flowers;  for  very  large  specimen  flow- 
ers, 10x8  would  be  better. 

Pot  Chrysanthemums. 

For  several  years  the  demand  for 
these  has  not  been  at  all  satisfactory. 
I  believe  there  is  only  one  way  to 
profitably  grow  a  moderate-sized, 
healthy  pot  plant,  that  will  keep  its 
foliage  and  really  be  respectable  in 
November.  Choose  healthy,  young 
plants,  that  have  been  propagated  in 
April.  If  they  have  been  stopped  once 
and  are  in  3-inch  pots,  so  much  the 
better.  By  the  middle  of  June  you  will 
have  some  vacant  benches  to  spare 
by  the  clearing  of  bedding  plants,  or 
you  may  throw  away  a  bench  of  car- 
nations. Five  or  six  inches  of  soil  on 
the  bench  will  do,  and  even  if  it  has 
grown  carnations  the  previous  winter, 
is  good  enough,  with  the  addition  of 
bone  flour  and  a  little  rotted  manure. 

Plant  15  to  18  inches  apart.  They  will 
make  a  fine  growth  during  summer 
and  should  have  all  their  growths 
stopped  at  least  twice  before  lifting. 
You  have  them  under  perfect  control 
by  this  method,  and  can  keep  them 


watered  and  syringed,  as  well  as  keep- 
ing the  aphis  subdued.  The  first  of 
September,  neither  three  days  before 
nor  after,  is  the  time  to  lift  them, 
which  should  be  done  with  a  digging 
fork,  and  by  getting  the  fork  down  flat 
on  bottom  of  bench  you  need  not  lose 
a  fiber.  These  plants  grow  a  great  deal 
after  lifting,  so  don't  crowd  them  into 
too  small  a  pot.  We  find  a  6,  7  and  8- 
inch  suits  the  different  varieties.  A 
few  days  of  shading  and  a  frequent 
syringing  and  they  will  have  taken 
hold  of  the  new  soil,  when  you  must 
give  them  a  light,  airy  house. 

These  plants  on  an  average  have  12 
to  20  buds,  each  branch  disbudded  to 
one  flower.  Most  of  them  can  be  tied  by 
one  stake  in  the  center  and  thread  or 
raffia  leading  to  each  branch;  larger 
plants,  such  as  Lincoln  always  makes, 
will  require  several  stakes;  but  let 
them  be  always  small  and  inconspicu- 
ous. Only  a  few  varieties  are  adapted 
to  this  purpose.  The  short  jointed, 
dwarf  varieties  are  the  ones,  and  of 
all  varieties  that  I  have  tried,  Ivory 
and  Lincoln  are  the  ideals.  Maud 
Dean  is  pretty  fair,  and  so  is  Bonnaf- 
fon. 

CINERARIA. 

What  florists  understand  when  we 
speak  of  cinerarias  are  those  which 
have  originated  from  C.  cruenta.  The 
hardy  species,  although  acceptable 
plants  for  the  herbaceous  border, 
where  hardy,  are  not  of  much  value  to 
the  florist.  Since  the  introduction  of 
the  cineraria,  or  rather  since  its  com- 
mon use  as  an  ornamental  plant  in  our 
greenhouses,  a  wonderful  improve- 
ment has  been  made  in  size,  color  and 
form  of  flower  as  well  as  in  the  habit 
of  the  plant.  They  are  of  easy  culture 
and  it  may  be  said  that  any  glass 
structure,  where  it  does  not  actually 
freeze,  will  grow  cinerarias.  But  like 
many  other  of  these  soft  wooded 
plants  which  can  be  called  "a  cheap 
plant  and  easy  to  raise"  a  slight  mis- 
take or  neglect  will  ruin  the  whole 
lot.  A  palm  or  an  orchid  will  be  much 
less  liable  to  permanent  injury  by  ne- 
glect or  mismanagement,  for  what  is 
a  cineraria  but  an  abomination  unless 
it  has  broad,  stiff,  healthy  leaves,  and 
if  it  has  those  it  will  be  sure  to  have 
a  handsome  head  of  flowers. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  some  choice 
varieties  are  still  perpetuated  by  cut- 
tings, as  they  commonly  were  years 
ago,  but  that  with  the  American  grow- 
er is  never  thought  of,  neither  is  it  at 
all  necessary,  for  a  fine  strain  is 
readily  produced  from  seed  supplied 
by  our  leading  houses.  Double  varie- 
ties were  also  a  novelty  a  few  years 
ago  and  supposed  to  be  a  great  ac- 
quisition, but  the  cineraria,  like  some 
other  florist's  flowers,  is  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  enhanced  in  beauty, 
either  as  an  individual  flower  or  as  a 
decorative  plant  by  its  being  double. 
It  is  simply  a  monstrosity  and  the 
craze  for  the  double  varieties  has  van- 
ished. 

If   flowering   plants   are   wanted   by 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


57 


FINE  STRONG  YOUNG 

Plants  of  all  the  leading 
Novelties  in 

Chrysanthemums 

as  well  as  the  best  standard  va- 
rieties, can  always  be  obtained 
in  season  at 

THE  COTTAGE  GARDENS, 
QUEENS,  N.  Y. 

We  grow  florists'  plants  in  large 
quantities,   and  grow    them    well. 

CHRYSANTHEMUM^ 

OF  EVERY  DESCRIPTION. 

Disseminators    of 
Choice    Seedlings 
and  Importers  of 
the  best  European 
Novelties 

Catalogue  Free  on  Application. 

NATHAN  SMITH  &  SON 

ADRIAN,  MICH. 


November  and  the  holidays,  you  must 
sow  at  end  of  May  or  early  in  June. 
Except  on  private  places  this  is  not  to 
be  recommended.  For  the  commercial 
florist  they  would  not  be  very  profit- 
able for  they  are  a  troublesome  plant 
to  carry  through  the  hot  months  and 
the  bulk  of  your  customers  are  not 
ready  for  them  till  February,  March 
and  April.  It  is  well  to  make  two  sow- 
ings, the  first  early  in  August,  the  lat- 
ter the  middle  of  September;  the  last 
sown  will  usually  come  in  right  for 
Easter.  The  seed  is  not  so  small  but 
what  it  can  have  a  slight  covering; 
finely  sifted  leaf  mould  or  sand  will 
do,  and  keep  uniformly  moist  till  the 
seeds  are  up. 

When  they  have  made  a  small  char- 
acter leaf,  transplant  into  a  flat  or  2- 
inch  pots.  From  this  time  on  they 
must  be  shifted  on  as  they  need  it, 
never  by  any  means  allowing  them  to 
become  stunted  for  want  of  larger 
pots.  After  they  leave  a  3-inch  pot  the 
soil  should  not  be  sifted.  If  it  is  a 
little  rough  or  lumpy  so  much  the  bet- 
ter. I  have  seen  hundreds  of  cinerari- 
as in  4  and  5-inch  pots  die,  not  with  a 
slow  death  but  suddenly  droop  and 
die,  and  the  cause  was  a  close  adhesive 
soil  through  which  the  water  did  not 
pass  freely.  They  may  not  be  a  profit- 
able plant,  but  if  worth  growing  at  all 
will  surely  pay  to  grow  well.  They 
must  have  room  to  spread  their  leaves,, 
and  until  flowering  time  40  degrees  at 
night  will  suit  them  better  than  a 
higher  temperature.  You  will  often 


hear  instructions  given  to  "keep  plants 
near  the  glass,"  in  other  words  this 
means  light.  They  must  have  light, 
room  to  spread  out,  a  cool  tempera- 
ture, and  although  a  stagnant  state  of 
the  soil  is  fatal  to  them  should  never 
be  allowed  to  wilt  from  dryness  or 
they  will  lose  some  of  their  best 
leaves.  After  light,  air  and  a  low  tem- 
perature, the  remaining  great  object 
to  watch  in  their  successful  culture  is 
never  let  a  greenfly  be  seen  on  them. 
Fumigate  regularly  and  faithfully. 

Those  that  are  summered  over  do 
much  the  best  in  a  pit  or  cold-frame, 
but  it  should  be  deep  enough  so  that 
when  ventilation  from  the  raised 
sashes  is  given  it  should  pass  over 
their  tops  and  not  be  playing  too  free- 
ly on  their  soft  leaves.  Specimens  can 
be  given  an  8  or  9-inch  pot,  but  the 
commercial  florist  will  find  that  a  6- 


the  root  of  any  strong  growing  vari- 
ety. The  florist  buys  his  clematis  and 
is  more  interested  in  knowing  how  to 
make  them  grow  satisfactorily  than 
how  to  propagate  them.  Very  strong 
plants  of  Jackmanii  and  other  large 
flowering  varieties  are  imported  every 
fall,  arriving  here  early  in  November 
or  perhaps  a  little  earlier.  They  have 
usually  a  good  growth  with  a  great 
bunch  of  roots.  Thousands  of  these 
are  sold  and  thousands  die,  and  pro- 
vokingly  after  living  one  or  two  or 
more  years. 

We  spread  out  the  roots  and  lay 
them  in  trenches  in  the  cold-frame 
during  winter  and  in  severe  weather 
cover  with  glass,  removing  it  before 
they  get  anyway  forced  by  the  suns  of 
March.  We  believe  they  are  more 
satisfactory  to  our  customers  planted 
this  way  than  potted  and  given  any 


Cineraria. 


inch  will  flower  them  sufficiently  well. 
I  have  seen  some  growers  pinch  out 
the  leading  flower  shoot  to  induce  a 
broader  head  of  bloom.  If  grown  cool 
and  light  this  is  entirely  unnecessary. 
It  is  seldom  that  cinerarias  are 
troubled  with  thrips  or  red  spider,  but 
a  dusting  of  water  in  summer  and  fall 
is  beneficial  to  them. 

CLEMATIS. 

Although  more  properly  belonging 
to  the  nurseryman  than  the  florist  we 
are  continually  asked  to  supply  plants 
of  several  varieties  and  species  of 
these  free  flowering  hardy  climbers. 

Some  of  the  species  are  readily  in- 
creased by  cuttings.  The  paniculata 
type  root  freely  from  pieces  of  the 
young  growth  and  there  is  no  better 
place  than  the  gentle  heat  of  a  hot- 
bed. They  all  are,  however,  bought 
very  cheaply  from  the  nurseryman. 
The  large  flowered  Jackmanii  type  are 
usually  grafted  oh  the  roots  of  'C. 
flammula,  the  common  European,  or 


time  in  the  greenhouse.  The  potted 
plants  look  well  when  sold,  but  are 
more  liable  to  suffer  from  neglect  after 
planting.  In  very  strong  plants  there 
is  such  a  mass  of  roots  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  spread  them  sufficiently 
for  all  to  get  some  earth  around  them, 
so  we  cut  out  about  half  the  roots, 
which  enables  us  to  get  some  soil 
among  them. 

You  dare  not  guarantee  the  clematis. 
If  you  do  you  will  have  to  make  good 
your  losses  on  some  other  article.  But 
you  can  plant  them  with  care  and 
give  good  advice  as  to  the  attention 
they  need.  They  are  nearly  always 
planted  against  a  veranda,  whose  over- 
hanging roof  often  keeps  the  rain 
away,  or  they  may  be  on  the  side  of 
the  house  or  an  aspect  from  which  the 
prevailing  rains  are  infrequent.  They 
should  during  summer  receive  copious 
waterings.  When  planting  out  each 
clematis  should  receive  a  barrow  load 
of  good,  rich  soil  and  not  be  put  into 
a  small  hole  and  have  clay  or  brick 


58 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Various  Types  of  Chrysanthemums. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


59 


bats  to  feed  on,  which,  is  often  the  re- 
sult of  the  grading  and  sodding  that 
is  done  around  a  pretty  house. 

In  milder  countries  the  gorgeous 
Jackmanii  and  its  kindred  varieties 
may  retain  their  stems  through  the 
winter;  with  us  they  do  not,  but  when 
well  established  the  roots  have  such 
vigor  that  the  young  shoots  spring 
from  the  ground  in  a  very  few  weeks, 
and  by  end  of  June  are  a  gorgeous 
mass  of  bloom  7,  8  and  9  feet  high,  and 
5  or  6  feet  across.  All  these  flower 
from  the  growth  of  the  same  year. 
The  past  severe  winter  has  injured 
a  few,  but  the  majority  of  the  clematis 
have  come  through  none  the  worse. 

Plants  of  Jackmanii,  Henryii  or  any 
of  that  type  make  splendid  decorative 
plants  grown  on  a  balloon  or  flat 
trellis  in  large  pots.  For  this  purpose 
they  should  not  be  cut  down,  as  the 
frost  does  our  outside  ones,  but  win- 
tered in  some  very  cool  house  and 
merely  thinned  out  and  tied  in  spring 
before  starting  into  heat. 

There  is  a  great  number  of  species 
and  some  of  them  are  very  distinct. 
A  few  of  them  are  natives  of  North 
America  and  make  splendid  plants  for 
covering  fences,  railings,  etc. 

C.  paniculata  is  very  hardy  and  is 
covered  from  July  on  with  its  white, 
finely  divided  flowers,  resembling  al- 
most balls  of  cotton. 

C.  coccinea  is  a  very  distinct  species 
with  yellow  and  vermillion  flowers  of 
an  odd  shape;  fine  for  verandas. 

C.  flammula  has  white  flowers,  is 
very  hardy  and  one  of  the  strongest 
growers. 

C.  Fortune! :  small,  white,  fragrant; 
fine  hardy  climber. 

C.  virginiana:  a  very  strong  grow- 
ing climber  with  small  white  fragrant 
flowers. 

The  five  species  last  mentioned  do 
not  require  any  special  care  and  when 
once  established  live  for  years.  It  is 
what  is  known  as  the  Jackmanii  type, 
one  of  the  first  hybrids  of  which  has 
immortalized  the  name  of  the  raiser, 
Mr.  Jackman,  of  Surrey,  England,  that 
need  the  best  of  attention  in  planting, 
etc.,  and  which  are  to  many  people 
the  only  clematis.  An  old  species 
from  China  with  pale  lavender  flowers 
five  or  six  inches  in  diameter  must  be 
one  of  the  parents  of  Jackmanii.  Of 
this  beautiful  type  there  is  a  number 
of  varieties  and  among  the  best  are: 

Jackmanii:  Still  one  of  the  very 
best  color;  a  rich  purple. 

Jackmanii  superba:  Violet  purple. 

Star  of  India:  Reddish  plum  color. 

Sieboldii:   Lavender. 

Henryii:  The  best  white;  very  large. 

Mme.  Edouard  Andre:  A  very  dis- 
tinct variety,  approaching  a  bright 
red. 

Miss  Bateman:  An  attractive  vari- 
ety; white  flowers  with  dark  anthers; 
medium,  flower,  dense  grower  and  free 
bloomer,  but  not  continuous. 

COBEA. 

The  species  best  known  and  most 
useful  is  C.  scandens  and  plants  are 
annually  raised  in  large  quantities  to 


be  used  as  out  door  climbers.  It  is 
a  perennial,  but  it  is  much  better  for 
us  to  treat  it  as  an  annual.  As  a 
quick  growing  plant  of  fine  appearance 
to  cover  verandas,  summer  houses  and 
stumps  of  trees  it  has  scarcely  an 
equal.  It  flowers  profusely  in  August 
and  September,  but  the  large,  bell- 
shaped  flower  is  not  conspicuous  as  in 
color  it  is  of  little  contrast  to  the 
leaves.  Where  people  want  permanent 
vines  such  as  honeysuckles,  bignonias, 
etc.,  and  are  impatient  of  results  we 
recommend  the  cobea  for  immediate 
effect,  or  till  the  hardy  vines  make 
a  show.  When  this  is  done  be  care- 
ful not  to  let  the  cobeas  smother  the 
permanent  vines  when  young. 


er  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  get 
them  apart.  There  are  few  of  our  cus- 
tomers that  don't  know  the  cobea  and 
a  few  hundred  are  asked  for  every 
spring.  And  when  you  have  to  buy  it 
is  one  of  those  things  difficult  to  get 
in  satisfactory  shape. 

COLD-FRAMES. 

What  we  call  a  cold-frame  (low 
walls  of  wood  or  brick  supporting 
some  glazed  sash)  is  a  miniature 
greenhouse  without  any  artificial  heat. 
Every  grower  should  know  the  great 
value  of  them  and  how  much  they  add 
to  his  capacity  for  raising  many  plants 
and  temporarily  increase  the  area  of 


Clematis  of  Jackmanii  Type. 


The  variegated  form  of  Cobea  scan- 
dens  is  a  beautiful  plant  and  makes  a 
fine  greenhouse  climber,  but  is  not  of 
value  outside.  The  variegated  sort  is 
always  propagated  by  cuttings  which 
strike  root  in  the  sand  at  any  time 
you  have  good  young  shoots  ready. 

Cobea  scandens  is  always  raised 
from  seed.  We  sow  in  March  in  flats 
containing  two  inches  of  light  sandy 
soil,  and  keep  in  a  temperature  of  60 
degrees.  Press  the  soil  down  evenly 
and  moderately  firm,  and  press  the 
seed's  into  the  soil,  always  on  edge.  No 
covering  is  needed;  the  upper  edge  of 
the  seedi  can  be  even  with  the  surface 
of  the  soil.  Give  them  a  good  water- 
ing and  keep  moist  till  the  young 
plants  are  up  an  inch  or  two  when 
they  should  have  plenty  of  light  and 
be  soon  potted  off  singly  in  small  pots. 

They  grow  rapidly,  and  when  five  or 
six  inches  high  we  shift  them  into  a 
4-inch  pot  and  put  a  stake  two  feet 
long  to  each  one.  If  not  staked  and 
tied  they  get  entangled  with  each  oth- 


his  glass.  There  are  times,  especially 
with  the  man  who  raises  bedding 
plants,  when  his  place  is  fearfully  con- 
gested and  the  addition  of  another 
thousand  feet  of  bench  room  is  the 
greatest  relief. 

Cold-frames  are  used  for  many  pur- 
poses. In  the  fall  and  winter  for  pan- 
sies,  to  store  away  hybrid  perpetual 
roses,  to  winter  pot  carnations  that 
are  wanted  for  next  summer's  bloom, 
to  winter  many  herbaceous  plants  that 
have  been  raised  from  seed  the  pre- 
vious August,  to  protect  Roman  hya- 
cinths, and  also  the  Dutch  hyacinths 
are  as  well  under  glass  where  they 
don't  get  so  wet,  and  the  severe  frost 
does  not  crack  the  pots.  • 

Some  of  our  common  little  vase 
plants  we  winter  in  cold-frames,  viz.: 
the  sedums,  lysimachia  (money  vine) 
and  the  variegated  glechoma.  In  the 
spring  these  frames  are  of  still  great- 
er use;  not  only  do- they  relieve  our 
crowded  benches,  but  many  plants  do 
far  better  in  them  than  in  a  green- 


60 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


house.  In  the  frames  you  have  per- 
fect light,  an  abundance  of  air,  and 
on  fine  warm  days  the  sashes  can  be 
removed  when  full  exposure  to  sun- 
light and  air  can  be  given. 

Carnation  growers  can  put  their 
young  plants  into  the  cold-frames 
about  April  the  first  and  a  few  weeks 
in  them  will  condition  the  plants  for 
the  open  field  much  better  than  a 
lofty  hot  house.  By  the  middle  of 
April  all  the  annuals  in  flats  or  plant- 
ed can  gq  into  the  cold-frames,  and 
many  of  our  bedding  plants  will  be 
greatly  benefited  by  a  few  weeks  in 
the  cold-frames.  It  is  a  far  better 
place  for  geraniums  than  a  shaded 
house  without  fire  heat. 

In  the  summer,  without  the  sash,  we 
find  great  use  for  the  frames  for 
plunging  out  our  azaleas,  acacias, 
hardy  roses  and  many  plants  that  are 
kept  in  pots  during  summer.  Boards 
fastened  up  to  keep  your  plunging  ma- 
terial in  place  may  do  as  well,  but  the 
frame  is  all  ready  to  hand. 

I  had  forgotten  one  very  important 
use  and  that  is  for  the  longiflorum 
lilies  in  the  fall.  Both  the  Bermuda 
and  the  Japan  grown  are  potted  and 
placed  in  the  cold-frames,  and  in  case 
of  very  heavy  rains  are  much  better 
covered  with  the  sash.  Those  you  keep 
for  Easter  and  later  flowering  must 
be  kept  in  the  frame  till  New  Year's 
or  later,  and  there  is  where  your  cold- 
frame  will  come  in  right,  in  fact  is  a 
necessity. 

The  ground  on  which  these  frames 
are  stood  should  never  be  in  a  place 
where  surface  water  will  stand,  even 
if  only  during  heavy  rains.  If  it  is  not 
a  naturally  dry  position  make  provi- 
sion to  carry  off  the  rains  from  the 
surrounding  surface.  Where  a  large 
lot  of  sash  is  used  for  this  purpose 
some  of  the  frames  at  least  ean  be  per- 
manent. By  that  I  mean  they  can  be 
built  of  cedar  or  cypress  posts  (4x4  is 
a  good  size)  driven  into  the  ground 
every  8  feet  for  the  back  and  front 
line  of  the  frame,  which  can  be  any 
desired  length.  I  have  one  of  30  sash 
in  length  devoted  to  violets.  Where 
they  are  built  to  fixed  posts  in  this 
way  it  is  best  to  use  2-inch  plank  for 
the  walls.  Where  the  frame  is  mov- 
able and  is  made  in  length  to  fit  three 
or  four  sash,  one  inch  lumber  will  do. 
The  sashes  are  made  of  various  sizes, 
but  it  is  wrong  to  have  them  an  awk- 
ward size;  6  feet  long  by  3  feet  6 
inches  wide  is  large  enough,  and  some 
prefer  3  feet  wide. 

For  a  great  majority  of  our  frames, 
whether  permanent  or  portable,  the 
height  at  back  is  18  inches  and  the 
front  12  inches,  giving  the  sash  a  slope 
of  6  inches  to  the  sun;  that  is  plenty. 
For  a  few  larger  plants  we  have  some 
frames  that  are  2  feet  at  back  and  18 
inches  in  front.  I  prefer  the  cypress 
sash,  butting  the  glass.  Always  use 
double  thick  glass;  these  sash  get  a 
good  deal  of  handling  and  occasionally 
one  blows  off  in  a  gale;.  They  run 
risks  of  breakage  far  more  than  a 
fixed  roof;  they  are  moved  repeatedly 
to  ventilate  and  are  raised  to  enable 


you  to  water,  so  the  double  thick  glass 
will  save  the  extra  price  in  glass  in 
one  year. 

Always  have  a  rafter  for  every  sash 
to  rest  on  and  slide  on.  They  are 
very  simply  made  by  nailing  a  piece 
of  pine  2x1  on  to  another  piece  of  pine 
4x1,  and  have  a  hook  and  eye  for 
every  sash,  to  keep  them  from  blow- 
ing off  in  a  storm.  There  are  always 
enough  spare  sash  in  the  dark  winter 
days  so  that  you  can  overhaul  the 
whole  lot,  mend  them  where  needed 
and  give  them  a  coat  of  paint.  And 
then  when  you  put  on  the  sash  over  a 
young  batch  of  carnations  there  won't 
be  a  glass  out  in  each  sash,  which  you 
often  see  decorated  with  a  piece  of 
board,  and  which  blows  off  to  make  a 
hole  in  the  next  sash,  to  chill  or  drown 
out  the  plants  beneath,  to  disseminate 
profanity  and  vex  all  around.  Some 
men  may  take  all  the  little  accidents 
that  ensue  from  neglect  quite  placidly, 
but  depend  upon  it  when  they  do  they 
are  sluggish,  good  natured  fellows  that 
won't  get  far  ahead. 

A  hail  storm  that  knocks  out  all 
your  glass  is  no  cause  to  get  irritable. 
The  w,riter  has  been  through  it  and 
knows  how  it  feels.  It  can't  be  help- 
ed, no  power  could  hinder  it,  and 
therefore  you  should  be  cheerful  and 
clean  up  and  find  out  the  best  place 
to  buy  glass  as  quick  as  possible.  But 
these  so-called  accidents  which  are 
purely  neglect  are  what  vex  a  man. 

A  good  part  of  your  frames  should  be 
made  to  take  four  sash,  because  they 
are  what  are  used  on  the  hotbeds. 
You  seldom  need  those  deeper  than  18 
inches  by  1  foot  and  the  ends  should 
be  fastened  to  a  2x4  post  in  the  four 
corners.  All  sash  should  have  a  strip 
of  iron  running  across  the  middle  on 
the  underside,  to  which  each  bar 
sihould  be  fastened  with  a  screw.  It 
helps  greatly  to  strengthen  the  sash 
and  keep  it  from  winding.  The  strip 
of  iron  can  be  %x1/4  inch.  In  summer 
when  of  little  use  see  that  the  sash 
are  laid  or  stood  on  timbers,  off  the 
ground,  not  winding,  and  that  a  door 
or  some  such  thing  be  stood  up  and 
tacked  to  the  last  one  covering  the 
glass,  so  that  your  sons  or  sons' 
friends  when  showing  you  how  they 
can  curve  a  ball  will  be  satisfied  to 
break  the  windows  in  your  barn  and 
not  go  through  three  or  four  depths  of 
sash. 

COLEUS. 

For  the  past  thirty  years,  and  still 
is,  and  perhaps  always  will  be  grown 
an  immense  quantity  of  small  plants 
of  coleus  for  our  flower  gardens. 
Verschaffeltii  is  a  variety  raised  from 
Blumei,  which  species  is  also  the  pa- 
rent of  the  thousands  of  varieties  that 
have  been  raised,  disseminated,  and 
many  now  forgotten.  The  coleus  as 
a  bedding  plant  is  finely  suited  to  our 
warm  summers  and  those  that  have 
not  seen  it  struggling  along,  dwarf 
and  scrubby  looking,  in  the  gardens  of 
North  Britain,  don't  realize  what  a 
grand  plant  we  have  in  this  tropical 
herb. 


In  climates  where  they  make  but  a 
poor  growth  out  of  doors  they  are  ap- 
preciated as  decorative  pot  plants  for 
which  they  make  fine  specimens.  They 
can  be  pinched  and  tied  to  most  sym- 
metrical forms  and  for  pure  beauty 
of  form  and  color  are  as  handsome  as 
any  plant.  But  here,  where  we  see 
them  growing  so  luxuriantly  outside 
they  are  not  appreciated  as  pot  plants 
unless  it  be  for  filling  up  in  the  sum- 
mer and  fall.  It  would  not  be  at  all 
difficult  to  start  with  a  4-inch  plant 
in  February  and  by  the  following  Oc- 
tober have  a  plant  6  feet  across  and 
as  even  in  outline  as  an  umbrella,  but 
few  would  stop  to  admire  it.  They 
would  only  remark  or  reflect:  "How 
long  it  must  have  taken  John  Smith 
to  grow  that  plant!"  The  plant  is 
not  worth  the  pains. 

To  digress  a  moment.  To  me  it  is 
no  pleasure  (simply  a  bore  in  fact) 
to  see  an  elephant  on  a  tub,  a  horse 
waltzing,  or  a  dog  walking  on  his  hind 
legs.  I  feel  very  tired  if  it  lasts  long 
and  instead  of  being  amused  by  such 
monstrosities  am  continually  thinking 
how  many  weary  days  and  weeks  it 
must  have  taken  to  teach  these  lower 
animals  the  tricks.  That's  all  there  is 
in  it;  it  shows  the  patience  and  untir- 
ing perseverance  of  some  men,  the  re- 
sult is  nothing  when  attained.  I  will 
go  a  long  ways  to  see  a  dog  chasing 
a  rabbit  or  a  fox,  a  horse's  neck 
stretched  out  to  pass  the  winning  post 
first,  or  an  elephant  pull  a  ten-ton 
cannon  and  show  his  majestic  strength 
and  it's  about  the  same  with  these 
specimen  coleus.  It  only  shows  the 
patience  and  skill  of  the  workman; 
the  result  is  meager  after  all  the  la- 
bor and  cost. 

To  obtain  a  good  stock  of  coleus  for 
bedding  purposes  it  is  better  to  carry 
over  a  few  each  of  the  leading  varie- 
ties in  pots  during  summer,  say  in  5 
or  6-inch  pots.  If  you  should  have  a 
cool  spell  in  October  and  November, 
when  firing  but  little,  the  fair  sized 
plants  can  stand  it,  but  small  plants 
in  2-inch  pots  cannot.  By  starting 
these  plants  in  good,  strong  heat  after 
New  Year's  you  will  soon  get  plenty 
of  cuttings.  As  is  known  to  every 
florist  the  coleus  roots  most  easily  in 
sand  the  year  around,  and  in  the 
months  of  March  and  April  when  you 
are  doing  your  heaviest  propagating 
a  bottom  heat  will  save  several  days. 

Coleus  are  sold  cheap  and  must  be 
raised  expeditiously  or  there  will  be 
no  profit.  We  endeavor  to  have  sev- 
eral sizes.  The  largest  are  in  4-inch 
pots.  Perhaps  these  have  been  stop- 
ped at  least  twice,  their  cuttings  hav- 
ing been  used  for  propagation.  The 
3-inch  pot  plants  were  stopped  once 
and  the  smaller  plants  in  2%-inch  had 
the  top  pinched  out.  ,We  find  custom- 
ers want  different  sizes.  Some  are 
willing  and  able  to  pay  for  the  largest 
plants;  others  think  the  smallest  plant 
just  as  good;.  "They  grow  very  fast 
you  know."  We  keep  on  propagating 
to  the  middle  of  May. 

I  have  seen,  in  fact  I  have  had,  a 
poor  lot  of  coleus,  for  sale  at  the  end 
of  May,  just  when  they  should  be 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


61 


Clematis  Paniculata. 


looking  fine,  and  the  reason  was  I 
thought  it  a  saving  to  buy  no  more 
fuel  after  the  end  of  April  or  first  of 
May,  and  perhaps  to  add  to  the  trou- 
ble had  some  whitewash  on  the  house. 
A  sudden  drop  in  temperature  with 
a  cool  damp  house  is  the  very  worst 
thing  for  coleus.  They  lose  their 
leaves,  grow  decidedly  smaller,  and 
instead  of  showing  their  fine  colors, 
all  assume  a  brown  paper  appearance. 
Full  sunlight  and  heat  is  what  they 
want  and  must  have. 

I  must  refer  once  more  to  the  hot- 
beds. There  is  no  place  like  them  to 
grow  good  bedding  coleus.  They  need 
not  be  built  up  as  if  you  were  grow- 
ing cucumbers  in  the  month  of  March, 
but  one  foot  of  solid  stable  manure 
with  four  or  five  inches  of  loam  or 


refuse  hops  on.  top  and  some  clean 
glass  over  them  will  produce  in  three 
weeks  a  better  bedding  plant  than  you 
can  make  in  ten  weeks  inside.  Have  a 
big  batch  of  cuttings  so  that  they  are 
ready  to  pot  off  middle  of  April.  By 
first  of  May  they  can  go  into  the  hot- 
bed in  3-inch  pots,  and  that  is  their 
finish.  One  more  great  advantage  is 
that  on  warm  days  toward  bedding  out 
time  you  can  remove  the  sash,  which 
finely  prepares  these  tropical  plants 
for  their  next  and  last  move. 

We  use  coleus  of  several  varieties 
for  veranda  boxes  and  vases.  They 
always  do  well.  The  only  trouble  with 
them  is  that  they  grow  so  freely  that 
if  allowed  they  will  smother  the  gera- 
niums, the  flowers  of  which  are  always 
looked  for. 


Any  light  loam  with  a  third  of  sift- 
ed rotten  manure  will  grow  coleus,  and 
if  we  wish  to  hurry  them  along  we 
add  a  quart  of  bone  flour  to  every 
bushel  of  compost. 

Mealy  bug  is  about  the  only  green- 
house pest  that  troubles  the  coleus, 
and  if  it  has  been  a  gardener  that  had 
charge  of  the  hose,  that  would  not 
be  seen.  A  proper  use  of  the  hose  will 
keep  them  down;  if  it  does  not,  use 
the  kerosene  emulsion  in  the  mildest 
form,  and  if  your  plants  are  very  bad 
throw  them  away  and  start  with  a 
clean  lot. 

Verschaffeltii  I  can  remember  very 
well  watering  as  a  rather  choice  ex- 
otic about  the  year  1863.  It  is  by 
long  odds  still  the  best  of  them  all, 
and  Golden  Bedder  is  such  a  fine  gol- 
den yellow  that  nothing  is  equal  to  it 
in  its  color.  If  you  grew  5,000  coleus 
for  bedding  plants,  2,500  should  be 
Verschaffeltii,  2,000  Golden  Bedder, 
and  the  rest  your  own  fancy.  For 
vases,  etc.,  the  fancy  sorts  are  useful. 
Klondike  is  a  yellow  with  a  few  dark 
markings,  a  very  strong  and  useful 
variety.  We  have  long  since  neglected 
to  keep  record  of  the  names  of  the 
fancy  coleus,  and  grow  only  half  a 
dozen  that  are  most  distinct  and  keep 
their  color  and  markings  outside  in 
the  broad  sun. 

COSMOS. 

The  annual  varieties  are  now  great 
favorites,  not  only  for  the  flower  bor- 
der but  more  especially  for  cutting. 
Its  finely  divided  foliage  and  handsome 
flowers  are  now  produced  of  various 
shades,  there  being  now  crimson,  pink, 
white,  and  last  a  yellow.  The  only 
drawback  to  the  cosmos  was  its  late . 
flowering  habit,  early  frosts  in  our 
northern  gardens  coming  before  it  had 
scarcely  bloomed. 

,By  selection  an  earlier  breed  will 
soon  be  produced,  some  seedsmen  now 
advertising  a  strain  that  will  begin 
to  flower  in  June  and  be  in  full  bloom 
in  August.  We  have  noticed  cosmos 
in  bloom  this  year  by  middle  of  July. 
While  a  tendency  to  early  flowering  is 
produced,  the  later  strains  are  alsj 
more  compact  in  growth;  that,  how- 
ever, to  the  florist  who  grows  for  cut 
flowers  is  not  so  important,  as  it  is  in 
the  long  sprays  that  it  is  particularly 
graceful,  and  for  decorations  few  flow- 
ers surpass  it  in  light,  airy  beauty. 

Only  moderately  rich  soil  should  be 
given  it  or  it  would  grow  too  strong. 
Plants  that  have  many  blooms  yet  to 
open  can  be  lifted  and  planted  in 
boxes  and  placed  in  a  light  position  at 
the  end  of  a  carnation  house,  and  will 
be  greatly  appreciated  after  all  outside 
flowers  are  killed.  Grown  in  a  posi- 
tion where  a  deep  cold-frame  could  be 
put  over  them  in  fall  to  protect  them 
from  the  first  severe  frost  will  well 
repay  the  trouble. 

They  are  best  sown  end  of  February, 
and  transplanted  into  flats  and  kept 
in  cold  frame  and  planted  out  middle 
to  end  of  May. 


62 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


COTYLEDON. 

These  now  include  what  we  have  so 
long  known  as  the  echeveria  and  sem- 
pervivum.  They  are  dwarf  succulents, 
a  few  of  them  forming  stems,  mostly 
perennials.  Very  few  are  of  any  value 
as  flowering  plants.  Many  of  them 
are  indispensable  for  carpet  bedding. 
In  fact,  the  rage  for  carpet  bedding  of 
twenty-five  years  ago  brought  several 
species  of  the  echeveria  into  great 
prominence  and  millions  were  grown. 
They  will  always  be  most  interesting 
plants  for  the  rockery. 

They  are  of  the  easiest  culture,  all 
the  useful  species  sending  out  a  num- 
ber of  offsets  which  can  be  removed 
from  the  parent  plant  in  fall  and 
planted  into  sandy  loam  thickly  in 
flats.  If  you  wish  them  to  grow  during 
winter  you  can  give  them  a  tempera- 
ture of  55  to  60  degrees,  with  perfect 
light,  and  keep  moderately  moist.  But 
for  wintering  most  of  them  a  much 
lower  temperature  will  do;  and  give 
them  little  water  during  the  dark 
months.  The  echeveria  section  should 
not  be  exposed  to  any  frost. 

While  propagation  by  offsets  is  much 
the  easiest  plan,  they  can  all  be  raised 
from  seed,  which  is  best  sown  in  very 
early  spring.  The  following  list  in- 
cludes the  most  useful  as  well  as 
handsome  species: 

C.  sempervivum:  House  leek;  per- 
fectly hardy. 

C.  Gibbiflora  metallica:  Fine  for 
center  of  carpet  beds,  or  worthy  of  pot 
culture;  broad  thick  leaves  of  a  me- 
tallic hue. 

C.  agavoides:  Beautiful  form,  re- 
sembling an  agave,  with  sharp  points 
to  the  leaves;  one  of  the  handsomest. 

C.  calif ornica:     Fine  form;  good  for 
"  carpet  bedding. 

C.  glauca:  Leaves  form  a  dense  ro- 
sette; largely  used. 

C.  secunda  glauca:  This  is  the  one 
most  in  use;  does  well  in  any  soil,  is 
easily  and  rapidly  propagated  and  for 
carpet  bedding  is  unequalled;  there  are 
several  varieties,  all  useful. 

C.  Peacockii:     This  is  perhaps  the 
most  ornamental  of  all,  and  much  less 
common  than  most  others. 
^C.  Ruthenicum:     Good  for  rockery; 
quite  hardy. 

C.  Verlottii:  A  pretty  species,  and 
hardy. 

C.  rosea:  A  fine  form;  suitable  for 
large  designs  in  carpet  bedding. 

C.  retusa:  This  is  the  only  one  we 
have  grown  as  a  flowering  plant  for 
fall  and  winter  sales.  It  sends  up  sev- 
eral flowering  stems  thickly  covered 
with  very  pretty  flowers.  Being  a  suc- 
culent it  is  a  most  satisfactory  house 
plant,  and  twenty  years  ago  we  grew 
it  largely.  It  is  well  worth  growing. 
Plants  that  have  flowered  should  be 
cut  down  within  a  few  inches  of  the 
ground  and  from  the  stem  you  will 
get  several  cuttings,  which  will  root 
quickly  in  the  sand  and  can  be  potted, 
and  when  there  is  no  longer  danger  of 
frost  planted  out  of  doors  a  foot  apart 
in  good  rich  earth.  You  want  these 
plants  to  grow,  unlike  those  you  have 


crowded  into  the  carpet  beds.  They 
will  grow  fast,  and  if  inclined  to  flower 
too  early  pinch  out  the  flowering  stem 
till  September.  They  lift,  of  course, 
with  the  greatest  ease.  We  like  to  put 
them  into  a  5-inch  pot.  For  inside  ar- 
rangements of  plants  such  as  are  often 
seen  in  the  dining  rooms  of  hotels  this 
plant  is  of  especial  value,  and  the  spe- 
cies metallica  would  also  be  for  its 
grand  leaves.  A  cold  dampness  is  all 
that  will  hurt  them. 

Some  of  the  species  do  not  make  off- 
shoots, or  not  in  quantity  enough  to 
propagate  sufficiently  fast.  The  leaves 
can  be  pulled  off  when  perfectly  ma- 
ture and  very  slightly  inserted  in  sand 
and  kept  dry;  on  the  ends  or  base  of 
the  leaf  small  plants  will  form,  which 
when  of  sufficient  size  can  be  potted 
and  started  growing. 

You  frequently  see  the  bedding  spe- 
cies used  in  frames  or  on  the  margins 
of  beds  where  the  edge  of  the  bed  is 
nearly  perpendicular.  Ordinary  soil 
would  wash  down  at  the  first  rain. 
For  these  positions  a  mixture  of  clay 
and  cow  manure  is  used,  and  the 
plants  put  in  when  it  is  moist,  the 
compost  afterwards  hardening  as  the 
fresh  moulded  brick  does  when  ex- 
posed to  the  sun,  and  the  cow  manure 
binds  it. 

CRINUM. 

Evergreen  bulbs  which  send  up  a 
handsome  mass  or  flower  in  a  more  or 
less  showy  umbel.  The  prevailing 
color  is  white.  They  are  not  of  any 
commercial  value,  but  are  handsome 
plants  for  the  private  conservatory. 
They  make  strong,  fleshy  roots  and  to 
do  well  should  be  given  plenty  of  pot 
room. 

They  require  good  drainage  and  a 
mixture  of  rather  rough,  turfy  loam 
and  decayed  manure.  If  the  pots  are 


full  of  roots  and  you  cannot  shift 
them  give  them  a  top  dressing  of  ma- 
nure in  the  spring.  When  making 
their  growth  in  the  spring  they  re- 
quire lots  of  water  and  syringing  to 
keep  down  thrip  and  spider.  Though 
not  so  much  water  is  needed  in  win- 
ter, they  want  a  moderately  warm 
place  and  must  by  no  means  be  dried 
off. 

Seed  is  easily  saved  from  the  flow- 
ers and  should  be  sown  singly  in  small 
pots  and  shifted  and  grown  on.  They 
also  can  be  propagated  by  off-shoots, 
which  can  be  taken  off  when  small. 

The  handsomest  are  nearly  all  trop- 
ical and  flower  during  the  summer 
months. 

CROCUS. 

This  pretty  little  flower  is  alluded 
to  in  the  article  on  bulbs.  It  is  not 
really  a  bulb;  it  is  a  corm,  but  we  al- 
ways class  it  among  the  Dutch  bulbs. 
We  have  never  forced  them  profitably, 
but  they  are  of  course  the  most  easy 
of  any  of  the  bulbs  to  force.  In 
small  pans  they  are  the  most  salable; 
the  demand  for  them,  however,  is  very 
small  and  not  worth  bothering  about. 
A  great  many  crocus  are  sold  every 
fall  for  planting  in  cemeteries,  where 
they  are  dropped  into  holes  four  or  five 
inches  below  the  surface  and  will  grow 
and  flower  every  spring  for  years. 
They  are  not  suitable  for  grouping 
with  the  tulips  and  hyacinths,  being 
much  too  early.  In  fact,  they  appear 
as  soon  as  the  snow  disappears  and 
are  often  caught  in  a  snow  storm  after 
they  are  in  bloom. 

They  will  thrive  in  any  soil  that  is 
not  too  retentive  of  moisture.  Dotted 
into  the  grass  or  in  beds  under  the 
wall  of  a  house  they  brighten  up  the 
first  days  of  spring.  Annuals  can  be 
grown  over  them  during  summer  with- 


Croton  Reidii. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


63 


Cycas  Revoluta. 


out  any  harm  if  you  don't  disturb  the 
soil  too  deep.  There  is  no  need  of 
transplanting  them;  they  will  take 
care  of  themselves  for  years. 

The  varieties  which  we  grow  are 
named,  but  the  color  is  sufficient,  and 
of  that  we  have  yellow,  purple,  blue, 
white  and  striped. 

CROTON. 

These  highly  ornamental  leaved 
plants  can  best  be  described  by  calling 
them  hot  house  evergreen  shrubs  or 
trees,  which  they  really  are.  As  large 
decorative  plants  for  the  conservatory 
they  have  few  equals.  In  the  latitude 
of  Philadelphia  and  southward  they 
make  beautiful  beds  out  of  doors,  or 
add  greatly  to  the  appearance  of  the 
sub-tropical  or  mixed  bed,  but  even 
in  that  latitude  they  should  be  in  pro- 
tected situations. 

For  decorations  they  are  valuable, 
but  not  in  cold  weather,  for  a  chill 
(even  a  low  temperature)  soon  takes 
off  their  beauty,  and  a  croton  must  be 
in  perfect  condition  or  it  is  useless. 
They  also  dislike  to  have  their  roots 
chilled  with  cold  water,  and  repeated 
doses  of  cold  water  will  soon  show  by 
a  drooping  of  the  foliage. 

They  are  rapidly  propagated  from 
the  tips  of  the  young  growths  in  warm 
sand  in  March  and  April.  The  sand 
must  be  kept  moist  and  sun  and 
draughts  kept  from  the  cuttings. 
Growers  of  large  quantities  plant  out 
on  a  bench  in  five  or  six  inches  of  good 
rich  soil,  the  young  plants  in  a  light 
house,  where  during  the  summer 
months  they  make  a  fine  quick  growth 
and  in  the  fall  they  are  lifted  and  pot- 
ted, and  when  established  are  ready 
for  sale. 

Where  expense  is  of  little  moment 
they  make  splendid  plants  for  the 
mixed  baskets  of  flowers  and  plants 


now  sold  in  our  largest  cities.  To  grow 
crotons  at  their  best  they  should  not 
go  below  70  degrees  at  night  at  any 
time  of  the  year,  but  for  a  short  time 
will  endure  20  degrees  lower  than  that. 
Unlike  a  palm  or  dracaena,  however, 
anything  near  the  freezing  point  for 
an  hour  or  two  will  greatly  damage 
them. 

They  are  subject  to  the  ravages  of 
the  mealy  bug,  red  spider  and  thrip, 
but  there  is  no  excuse  for  either,  as 
they  delight  in  syringing;  the  proper 
use  of  the  hose  should  banish  their 
pests,  or  rather  they  should  never  ap- 
pear. 

For  soil  they  like  a  strong,  turfy 
loam  with  a  fifth  or  sixth  of  rotten 
cow  manure,  and  should  be-firmly  pot- 
ted, and  when  the  water  passes  prop- 
erly through  the  soil,  which  it  always 
should,  they  want  lots  of  it.  Bone 
meal  has  been  added  to  the  compost 
(about  one  pound  to  a  bushel  of  soil) 
with  the  very  best  results. 

The  following  will  be  found  very 
handsome  and  satisfactory  varieties, 
and  without  describing  each  variety, 
they  can  be  depended  on  to  furnish 
both  variety  and  form,  habit  and  color 
of  the  leaf: 

Aurea  picta,  acubaefolia,  Baron 
Rothschild,  Day  Spring,  contorta, 
Challenger,  Disraeli,  elegantissimus, 
Johannis,  Mortii,  Langii,  Ruberrinum, 
Sunbeam,  Reidii,  gloriosum,  Lady 
Zetland,  voluta. 

Picta  is  remembered  as  one  of  the 
oldest  and  is  probably  the  parent  of 
most  of  the  present  varieties. 

These  plants  are  so  universally 
known  as  crotons  (and  probably  will 
be  for  a  long  time  to  come)  that  it  is 
not  worth  while  naming  them  any- 
thing else  here.  Yet  modern  horticul- 
tural dictionaries  say  that  they  are 
not  crotons  but  codiaeums.  ( 


CYCAS. 

There  is  one  species  of  this  hand- 
some palm-like  plant  that  is  known  to 
all  florists,  the  C.  revoluta.  It  is  not 
only  one  of  the  finest  of  our  decora- 
tive plants,  but  its  handsome  leaves 
are  largely  used  simply  tied  together 
or  with  the  addition  of  roses,  etc.,  for 
funeral  designs.  Cycas  leaves  of  all 
sizes  and  perfect  in  outline  and  color 
are  now  imported  either  from  China  or 
climes  where  this  plant  grows  freely 
out  of  doors  the  year  round.  Although 
they  are  beautifully  preserved  and  put 
into  fine  artistic  forms,  they  are  not 
quite  the  thing  with  all  our  customers 
and  do  not  entirely  take  the  place  o" 
the  home  grown,  naturally  colored 
leaves. 

The  cycas  is  quite  a  tough  plant.  I 
mean  by  that  that  it  withstands  a  good 
deal  of  rough  usage.  I  have  seen  it  do 
well  the  year  round  in  a  light  room 
where  gas  was  usedj  and  if  you  have 
no  better  place  it  will  thrive  in  a  tem- 
perature of  50  degrees  all  winter,  but 
that  is  not  the  way  to  produce  fine 
leaves.  It  will  burn  under  the  focus  of 
glass,  but  will  stand  out  of  doors  un- 
harmed in  the  broadest  and  hottest 
suns  if  plentifully  supplied  with  wa- 
ter. It  makes  a  grand  specimen  for  a 
lawn  during  the  summer  months. 

They  should  not  have  a  larger  pot 
or  tub  than  is  necessary,  but  must 
have  a  shift  every  two  years  if  they 
are  making  a  strong  growth.  The  soil 
should  be  a  strong  turfy  loam,  light- 
ened up  with  leaf-mould  and  sand,  or 
a  fifth  or  sixth  of  well  rotted  cow  ma- 
nure. In  the  spring  if  you  have  no 
occasion  to  shift  them  give  them  a 
mulch  of  not  over  decayed  manure. 
When  in  good  health  they  will  always 
make  one  whorl  of  leaves  every  spring. 
If  water  passes  freely  through  the  soil 
you  cannot  very  well  overwater  them, 
and  they  like  syringing  at  all  times. 

Their  greatest  enemy  is  the  brown 
scale,  and  to  remove  this  (or  rather 
prevent  it)  they  must  be  sponged  with 
the  kerosene  emulsion.  Mealy  bug 
will  attack  them,  but  there  is  no  ex- 
cuse for  that,  as  the  hose  should  keep 
them  down.  A  temperature  of  60  de- 
grees will  do  very  well  in  winter  and 
as  hot  as  you  like  in  spring  and  sum- 
mer. When  cutting  the  leaves  for  use 
never  cut  very  close  to  the  stem;  leave 
three  inches  of  the  stem  of  the  leaf  on 
the  main  trunk. 

There  is  no  need  of  discussing  the 
method  of  propagation  of  the  cycas, 
as  the  young  plants  or  stems  in  a 
dormant  state  are  now  imported  by 
the  ton  and  sold  by  weight.  When 
first  received  they  should  be  put  into 
pots  not  much  larger  than  the  diame- 
ter of  stem  and  plunged  into  bottom 
heat.  They  will  in  course  of  time 
throw  out  a  small  whorl  of  leaves,  but 
their  root  action  is  slow.  At  this  stage 
they  are  easily  hurt,  and  although  not 
wanting  bottom  heat  after  a  few 
months,  the  plants  should  not  be  put 
out  of  doors  or  used  for  decoration,  or 
by  any  means  sold  to  a  customer  till 
they  have  made  a  good  growth  of 


64 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Cyclamen,  in  basket  dressed  with  ribton. 


roots,  which  will  be  two  years  from 
the  time  they  are  started. 

We  often  get  an  old  cycas  on  our 
hands  that  has  been  abused  and  lost 
its  leaves.  By  shaking  off  the  soil  and 
potting  in  small  pots  and  treating  as 
you  do  the  imported  stems  you  will  in 
time  get  a  good  plant. 

C.  revoluta  is  by  far  the  most  valu- 
able to  the  florist  for  all  purposes.  Of 
the  other  species  for  private  collec- 
tions, media  and  circinalis  are  fine 
plants. 

CYCLAMEN. 

Of  all  the  winter  blooming  green- 
house plants  as  well  as  a  plant  for  a 
customer  a  well  grown  cyclamen  takes 
the  first  rank.  It  is  second  to  none. 
It  is  so  pretty  in  leaf  and  beautiful  in 
flower  that  few  of  our  customers  can 
resist  buying  one,  and  when  to  that 
is  added  its  good  qualities  as  a  house 
plant  it  is  worthy  of  our  greatest  care 
and  attention.  There  are  several  spe- 
Hes  of  cyclamen,  but  only  one  that  is 


of  importance  to  the  florist.  We  often 
hear  people  from  Central  Europe  _(not 
gardeners)  when  they  see  the  cycla- 
men persicum  in  our  greenhouses  say 
that  they  grow  wild  in  Europe,  and 
they  call  them  the  Alp  violet.  It  is 
Cyclamen  neapolitanum  they  have 
seen,  a  native  of  that  country.  All  the 
beautiful  varieties  we  grow  are  from 
C.  persicum. 

The  writer  can  remember  when 
these  plants  were  coddled  up,  starved 
largely  and  kept  from,  year  to  year. 
That  day  is  past,  and  they  are  now 
rarely  kept  over,  but  are  grown  annu- 
ally from  seed.  Anyone  having  a  good 
strain  should  save  his  own  seed;  it  is 
best  fresh.  It  will  be  ripe  in  May  and 
June  and  should  be  sown  in  September. 
If  you  don't  save  the  seed,  get  the 
best  strain.  The  form  that  is  known 
as  giganteum  is  not  as  good  for  the 
florist  as  the  type  known  as  C.  P. 
grandiflora. 

Sow  in  light  soil  and  press  the  seeds 
into  the  soil  and  then  cover  slightly. 


Keep  moderately  moist  and  they  will 
germinate  in  three  or  four  weeks 
When  the  small  leaves  are  up  you 
should  give  the  pan  or  flat  plenty  of 
light  in  a  temperature  of  about  55  de- 
grees. When  the  little  bulbs  (as  we  wi'.l 
call  them)  are  the  size  of  a  small  pea 
they  should  be  transplanted  into  pans, 
or  can  go  singly  into  2-inch  pots.  If 
kept  light  and  healthy  they  will  need 
a  3-inch  pot  by  middle  of  April,  and 
the  best  place  of  all  for  them  is  a  mild 
hot-bed.  The  manure  should  be  well 
firmed  into  the  frame  and  on  it  place 
four  or  five  inches  of  soil  or  ashes,  in- 
to which  plunge  the  pots  close  to  the 
glass. 

A  permanent  shade  is  very  bad  for 
cyclamen,  as  they  only  want  a  shade 
which  can  be  applied  by  throwing  over 
a  thin  cloth  in  the  hottest  hours  of  the 
day.  Never  let  them  suffer  for  want, 
of  water.  A  slight  syringing  every 
bright  morning  is  necessary.  If  aphis 
appears  and  fumigating  is  not  prac- 
tical, syringe  with  one  of  the  tobacco 
extracts.  By  middle  of  June  they  will 
want  another  shift,  and  a  slight  bot- 
tom heat  will  still  help  them  very 
much.  They  should  be  raised  in  the 
plunging  material  till  the  rims  of  the 
pots  are  even  with  the  top  of  frame, 
so  that  they  can  be  syringed  thorough- 
ly. They  will  now  be  in  4  and  5-inch 
pots. 

By  the  middle  of  August  they  should 
have  their  last  shift,  a  6  or  7,  or  even 
an  8-inch  pot,  if  large  enough.  They 
should  never  be  crowded  in  the  frame, 
never  neglected  for  water  and  syring- 
ing and  never  shaded  .except  in  the 
hottest  hours.  Some  narrow  strips  can 
be  run  along  the  frames  above  the 
plants  and  on  these  some  lattice  shad- 
ing or  cheese  cloth  can  be  rolled  on 
and  off.  The  full  exposure  to  the  air 
except  during  the  brightest  hours 
(from  10  to  4)  is  what  they  want.  If 
wanted  early  some  can  be  moved  to 
the  greentouse  middle  of  September, 
others  can  remain  a  month  or  six 
weeks  later. 

The  cyclamen  is  by  no  means  a  ten- 
der plant,  but  it  is  not  well  to  expose 
them  to  frost. 

I  have  spoken  before  about  what 
I  consider  good  rdainage.  For  cy- 
clamen in  the  last  shift  I  would  say 
a  good  handful  of  broken  crocks  cov- 
ered with  a  layer  of  green  wood  moss. 
In  the  greenhouse,  as  at  all  times, 
they  should  have  the  fullest  light.  Hor- 
ticultural writers  use  the  phrase  con- 
tinuously "near  the  glass1,"  which  is 
equivalent  to  saying  "perfect  light," 
but  plants  that  are  near  the  glass  of- 
ten get  a  better  circulation  of  air 
around  them  (a  great  advantage)  than 
those  near  the  floor. 

If  well  drained  the  cyclamen  is  not 
very  particular  about  soil.  A  good 
yellow  loam  with  a  fourth  of  well  de- 
cayed cow  manure  and  a  fourth  of 
leaf-mould,  rather  firmly  potted,  will 
grow  them  well.  Some  growers  mix 
a  little  broken  lime  rubbish  with  good 
effect.  Sometimes  the  beginner  is 
puzzled  to  know  how  deep  to  put  the 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Small  Plant  of  Cyt'sus  in  a  Basket. 


bulb  or  coim.  When  shifting  you 
can  keep  the  top  of  bulb  about  ev^n 
with  or  a  little  above  the  surface  of 
soil.  With  the  watering  and  growth 
the  bulb  will  soon  elevate  itself  to 
the  surface. 

If  syringing  is  properly  attended  to 
the  thrip  and  spider  are  seldom  troub- 
lesome, but  the  aphis  is  a  persistent 
enemy  of  this  beautiful  plant,  getting 
down  among  the  young  leaves  and 
flower  buds.  A  faithful  weekly  fumi 
gating  must  be  followed  up.  I  tried 
one  winter  an  experiment  on  the  best 
temperature  to  flower  them;  45  degroes 
at  night  was  too  cool  and  55  was  too 
hot;  50  degrees  seemed  to  be  just 
right,  opening  the  flowers  fast  enough 
without  drawing  them  up.  If  once 
clean  of  aphis  when  brought  into_the 
house  a  good  plan  is  to  stand  every 
pot  on  an  inverted  6-inch  pot  and  place 
three  or  four  inches  of  loose  tobacco 
stems  between  the  pots.  This  will 
keep  down  the  fly,  but  it  should  be  re- 
newed every  three  or  four  weeks. 

Plants  are  seldom  carried  over  the 
second  year.  If  you  wish  to,  lessen  the 
supply  of  water  after  the  flowers  are 
gone  and  keep  cool  till  May,  when  the 
pots  can  be  placed  outside,  in  July 
shake  off  the  old  soil  and  start  grow- 
ing in  smaller  pots  and  shift  again  as 
required.  Old  plants,  if  well  managed, 
give  an  enormous  lot  of  flowers'  that 
are  usually  not  as  fine  as  those  on  the 
year-old  plants,  and  the  plants  are  not 
as  perfect.  If  a  plant  can  in  fifteen 
months  be  grown  in  an  8-inch  pot,  the 
foliage  15  to  18  inches  across,  with  100 
fine  flowers,  what  better  is  needed? 

In  Europe  they  use  the  soot  of  bitu- 
minous coal  as  an  ingredient  of  the 
compost;  it  adds  to  the  size  and  color 
of  the  leaves.  A  liquid  application  of 
nitrate  of  soda  would  possibly  have  a 
similar  result.  You  can  buy  cyclamen 


seed  in  d'slinct  colois,  and  wh?re 
largely  grown  should  do  so.  The 
mixed  strains,  where  only  a  few  hun- 
dred are  needed,  will  give  you  a  fine 
variety.  Seed  can  be  sown  as  late  as 
January  with  good  results,  and  if 
grown  cool  in  winter  can  be  had  in 
bloom  for  April  and  May. 

The  crested  and  so-called  double 
forms  are  curious,  but  no  improve- 
ment in  beauty  over  the  older  forms. 
The  double  is  in  fact  a  monstrosity 
without  beauty.  The  colors  range 
from  deepest  crimson  to  purest  white 
and  in  many  the  Colors  are  fine'y 
blended. 

Finally,  what  is  true  of  most  soft- 
wooded  plants  is  more  particularly 
true  in  the  cultivation  of  the  cycla- 
men; they  should  have  no  check,  no 
setback  of  any  kind  from  tue  time 
the  seed  germinates  till  they  are  in 
bloom,  but  should  be  continually 
growing. 

CYTISUS. 

These  are  often  called  genista,  but 
cytisus  is  the  correct  name,  of  which 
the  beautiful  tree  or  shrub  Laburnum 
is  one.  They  are  profuse  blooming, 
branching  evergreens.  Small  plants 
in  4  and  5-inch  pots  are  most  useful, 
but  a  limited  number  of  the  larger 
plants  are  very  fine  for  decoration. 
Their  bright  yellow  color,  the  plants 
covered  with  flowers,  makes  them 
very  attractive,  but  we  do  not  con- 
sider them  at  all  a  good  house  plant, 
the  leaves  and  flowers  soon  dropping, 
and  the  reason  must  be*  the  dry  air 
of  the  room. 

Any  ordinary  loam  with  a  little  rot- 
ten manure  will  grow  them.  They  are 
sometimes  troubled  with  red  spider 
but  never  when  they  are  kept  syringed 
during  the  summer. 

They  root   readily   from    the   young 


growths  in  February  and  are  pinched 
and  grown  on  by  shifting  during  sum- 
mer. We  never  plant  them  out  be- 
cause they  lift  badly.  Keep  them 
under  glass  and  keep  them  plunged  on 
a  bench  where  there  is  very  little 
shade.  To  make  compact  little  plants 
they  want  their  strongest  shoots  often 
stopped,  the  last  stopping  or  clipping 
should  not  be  later  than  December.  In 
winter  they  can  be  kept  in  a  very  coo! 
house;  40  degrees  at  night  will  bf 
plenty. 

They  are  of  most  use  as  an  Easter 
plant  and  if  not  kept  very  cool  will 
be  too  early  for  Easter  unless  that 
festival  conies  on  an  early  date.  Un- 
sold plants  can  be  sheare.d  off  and  if 
kept  warm  and  syringed  will  soon 
make  a  fine  growth,  and  when  shifterl 
they  can  be  plunged  outside  in  sum- 
mer and  will  want  at  intervals  an  oc- 
casional clipping.  They  can  be  made 
very  round,  compact,  handsome  bush- 
es or  allowed  to  grow  more  freely  if 
you  wish. 

Canariensis  is  a  trifle  darker  than 
racemosus  but  the  latter  is  the  best 
grower  and  best  plant. 

DAHLIA. 

These  magnificent  herbaceous  plants 
have  long  been  favorites  of  the  garden 
and  were,  I  think,  once  more  frequent- 
ly seen  than  at  present.  They  do  not 
reward  you  with  their  grand  flowers  if 
just  shoved  into  the  ground  as  the  use- 
ful geranium  does.  They  want  culti- 
vation and  they  are  well  worth  it.  Ex- 
cepting as  to  odor  what  flower  is  more 
perfect  than  a  dahlia? 

There  are  several  classes:  The  Show 
Dahlia  is  the  large  double  flower.  The 
Fancies  are  identical  excepting  in  the 
markings  of  the  flower.  The  Pompon 
are  perfect  little  double  flowers,  not 
more  than  one-half  or  one-third  the 
size  of  the  Show  flower.  The  single 
section  are  very  handsome  and  are 
used  more  for  bedding.  Some  twenty 
years  ago  they  were  very  much  in 
fashion. 

With  the  exception  of  the  single 
class,  or  in  case  you  want  to  raise  new 
varieties  of  the  double  ones,  the  dah- 
lias are  easily  raised  from  cuttings. 
The  clump  of  roots  which  has  been 
resting  all  winter  should  be  placed  on 
a  bench  in  February  or  March  on  an 
inch  or  so  of  soil.  If  there  is  heat 
under  the  bench  so  much  the  better. 
The  house  can  be  about  60  degrees. 
Scatter  some  light  soil  among  the 
roots,  just  sufficient  to  cover  them  and 
keep  moist.  From  the  crown  of  the 
roots  will  spring  a  number  of  cuttings 
which  when  two  or  three  eyes  long 
can  be  cut  off  and  put  into  the  sand: 
or  you  can  put  each  cutting  in  a  2-inch 
pot,  with  a  little  soil  at  bottom  and 
sand  on  top;  the  latter  plan  will  save 
disturbing  the  roots.  Always  make  the 
cuttings  at  a  joint.  This  may  be  of 
little  consequence  with  the  majority 
of,  plants  but  is  important  with  dah- 
lias. 

When  well  rooted  in  the  small  pots 
shift  into  a  4-inch  pot  and  give  plenty 
of  light  and  air,  and  as  planting  time 


66 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


Single  Dahlia. 


approaches  they  should  be  in  a  cold- 
frame,  where  they  can  be  hardened 
off.  The  planting  time  will  depend  on 
when  you  are  sure  of  no  more  frosts. 
The  dahlia  is  a  cold  blooded  plant 
yet  it  can't  endure  the  slightest  frost. 
The  first  frost  of  fall  kills  our  dahlias, 
so  a  late  frost  in  spring  would  put  you 
back  with  the  plants  for  weeks  or  kill 
them. 

If  it  is  a  bed  you  are  going  to  plant 
then  the  whole  ground  should  be  deep- 
ly dug,  and  a  fourth  of  its  bulk  of  ma- 
nure added.  The  single  varieties  can 
be  planted  2  ft.  apart,  the  Pompons 
2  ft.  6  in.,  and  the  Show  and  Fancy 
kinds  to  do  them  real  well  should  have 
4  ft.  All  should  have  stakes  to  sup- 
port them  and  in  a  dry  time  an  abund- 
ance of  water  at  least  twice  a  week — 
not  a  sprinkling,  but  a  soaking.  Grow- 
ers of  good  dahlias  pinch  out  the  earli- 
est flowers  and  all  lateral  growths  till 
the  plant  is  3  or  4  ft.  high. 

The  single  varieties  are  easily  raised 
from  seed  sown  in  February  or  March. 
When  well  up  pot  into  2-inch  pots  and 
shift  on,  giving  all  the  light  and  air 
you  can  as  planting  time  approaches. 

Being  assistant  to  a  good  Scotch 
dahlia  grower  (the  late  Wm.  Vair)  in 
Toronto  some  30  years  ago,  I  have  not 
forgotten  his  method  and  from  plants 
propagated  in  March  he  showed  and 
won  a  prize  the  following  July  1st  for 
the  "best  12  flowers  of  Show  dahlias." 
By  the  end  of  May  the  young  plants 
were  15  to  18  inches  high  in  4-inch 
pots.  For  every  plant  on  a  long  border 
(5  feet  between  plants)  he  dug  a  hole 
18  inches  in  diameter  and  15  inches 
deep,  working  in  a  third  of  manure. 
The  surplus  soil  was  spread  on  the 
border.  Near  the  center  of  the  hole 
he  drove  down  a  stout  stake  which 


was  left  4  ft.  above  the  ground  and 
close  to  that  the  plant  was  set.  The 
surface  of  the  soil  was  left  in  such 
shape  that  when  watered  the  water 
would  run  to  the  plant,  not  away  from 
it.  I  think  it  was  the  20th  of  May 
they  were  planted.  Frequently  they 


were  watered  and  you  could  almost 
see  them  grow.  July  the  1st  is  ex- 
tremely early  to  cut  dahlias  but  there 
was  a  flower  or  two  on  several  of  the 
plants  and  after  that  they  were  a  gor- 
geous sight. 

It  is  my  good  fortune  to  see  and  fre- 
quently to  judge  the  wonderful  dahlias 
shown  at  Toronto's  great  fair  in  Sep- 
tember; no  better  can  be  seen  any- 
where and  for  years  the  superb  flowers 
of  Grainger  Bros.,  Toronto,  have  been 
exhibited  faultless  in  shape  and  color. 

It  would  be  useless  to  give  a  list  of 
varieties.  The  catalogues  of  our  lead- 
ing florists  and  nurserymen  describe 
them  all  and  the  varieties  are  in- 
numerable. The  Show  varieties  have 
the  magnificent  self  colors  of  crimson, 
red,  yellow  and  white  and  inter- 
mediate shades.  The  Fancy  flowers 
are  most  beautifully  blotched,  spotted 
and  striped.  The  pretty  little  Pompons 
are  all  colors;  some  of  the  pink  shades 
among  them  are  fine  for  florists  use 
and  the  singles  are  of  every  color.  For 
cut  flowers  the  Pompon  class  are  the 
most  useful. 

Anything  but  a  very  stiff  clay  will 
do  for  soil.  The  best  I  ever  saw  were 
grown  in  a  sandy  loam  with  a  third  of 
good  manure  added.  Deep  soil,  plenty 
of  manure  and  abundance  of  water  are 
the  three  essentials. 

When  the  tops  are  destroyed  by 
frost  cut  down  to  within  six  inches  of 
the  soil,  shake  or  pick  off  all  soil  when 
lifting  the  roots  and  store  in  a  cool, 
dry  cellar  or  under  a  bench.  Where 


Vase  of  Double  Dahlias. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


67 


Dwarf  Dahlias  in  Pots. 


potatoes   will    keep    so   will   dahlias; 
cool  as  you  like  but  no  frost. 

If  the  amateur  has  no  meansi  of 
propagating,  the  old  root  can  be  plant- 
ed or  divided,  leaving  an  eye  or  two  to 
each  division,  and  placed  in  the  ground 
by  middle  of  May;  but  look  out  for 
late  frosts  if  the  top  has  started. 

ONLY  A  SELECT  LIST  gEFsTTHE 
FLORISTS' 

Dahlias 

Are  grown  by  us. 

Remember  that  in  ordering  from  us  you  have 
the  advantage  of  selecting  from  a  stock  which  has 
been  thoroughly  culled ;  consequently  you  buy 
good  varieties  as  well  as  good  plants. 

THE  COTTAGE  GARDENS, 
QUEENS,  N.  Y. 

DECORATIONS. 

Keeping  step  with  our  business  in 
other  lines,  the  decoration  of  the 
house,  the  hall  and  the  church  has 
evolved  apace  and  is  with  many  a 
florist  a  leading  feature  of  his  trade. 
Looking  back  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  we  can  hardly  imagine  what 
material  we  then  had  with  which  to 
fill  an  order  when  we  were  favored 
with  a  decoration.  Smilax  we  had, 
and  some  flowering  plants  of  very 
common  sorts.  With  the  exception  of 
the  chandelier  the  decorations  must 
have  been  of  cut  flowers,  and  they 
were  hardly  worth  calling  cut  flowers 
for  all  were  short  stemmed  and  jam- 
med into  frames  and  designs  in  a 
very  conventional  way. 


We  can  all  remember  (at  least  all 
those  whose  hair  is  grey)  that  at  a 
wedding  or  reception  the  chief  deco- 
ration was  the  banking  of  the  mantel- 
pieces with  cut  flowers,  and  I  think  I 
have  seen  such  a  bank  of  flowers,  6 
feet  by  2  feet,  that  contained  as  many 
orders,  genera,  species  and  varieties 
as  are  usually  found  in  a  botanical 
garden.  Of  palms  there  were  scarcely 
any.  A  few  old  latanias  and  occasion- 
ally a  shop  worn  Seaforthia  elegans 
comprised  the  stock  in  trade.  Of  the 
ornamental  kentias  and  arecas  there 
were  none,  and  it  would  not  be  far 
wrong  to  say  that  with  the  great  ma- 
jority of  those  who  undertook  a  deco- 
ration, of  palms  or  decorative  plants 
there  were  none  at  all. 

To  trace  the  progress  and  improve- 
ment in  our  style  of  decoration  would 
be  of  no  avail.  What  it  is  today  and 
what  we  can  look  for  in  the  future  is 
what  we  are  after.  The  basket  filled 
with  moss  and  stuffed  full  of  a  variety 
of  flowers  on  toothpicks  is  gone  for- 
ever, and  so  is  the  bank  of  moss  (often 
made  on  a  board  to  fit  the  mantel- 
piece) gone  never  to  return.  The  pass- 
ing away  of  that  style,  as  well  as  the 
bouquet  described  in  Peter  Hender- 
son's fine  little  work,  "Practical  Flori- 
culture," is  not  a  change  of  fashion; 
not  at  all.  It  is  the  awakening  and  the 
throwing  off  of  a  crude,  semi-barbaric 
education  in  that  particular  line.  And 
as  pronounced  traits  of  barbarism  are 
occasionally  cropping  out  among  the 
most  refined  and  polished  peoples  you 
occasionally  see  a  bouquet  that  in 
form  and  make  up  reminds  you  of  the 
dark  ages. 

It  is  a  question  what  brings  about 
these  great  changes.  Was  it  the  sup- 
ply of  better  material  that  suggested 
a  more  natural  and  refined  style  of 
decoration,  or  was  it  the  good  taste 
of  our  patrons  that  stimulated  the 


taste  and  originality  of  the  florist? 
We  think  decidedly  it  was  the  latter, 
for  material  of  some  kinds  we  always 
had,  and  flowers  too,  but  a  knowledge 
of  their  proper  use  came  by  education 
and  it  came  slowly.  Did  it  ever  occur 
to  you  how  much  we  are  all  imitators? 
There  are  in  our  line  only  a  few  men 
of  bright  and  original  ideas  in  the 
whole  country  and  I  am  without  the 
postofflce  address  of  those  few,  but.  at 
the  risk  of  offending  some  mighty 
good  people  I  believe  these  few  bright, 
lights  lived  (and  I  trust  yet  live)  in 
New  York  and  Boston. 

All  reformers  are  abused  and  re- 
viled, or  considered  cranks  by  the  com- 
mon herd.  All  discoverers  and  demon- 
strators of  everlasting  truths  are  held 
in  contempt  and  spoken  of  by  fossilized 
brains  and  robed  hypocrites  as  enemies 
of  mankind.  Saints  never  lived;  they 
are  saints  when  they  die,  Linnaeus,  the 
colossal  brained  Swede  who  demon- 
strated and  published  the  facts  about 
the  sexes  in  plants,  had  to  eat  his 
words  at  the  command  of  the  church. 
Just  fancy;  he  had  to  deny  a  great 
truth  in  nature  which  is  today  taught 
to  every  student  at  a  high  school. 
Happy  is  the  man  (for  his  mind  is  his 
great  consolation)  who  will  grasp  the 
truth  as  great  minds  reveal  it.  Let 
him  be  penniless,  he  is  yet  rich,  and 
a  king  compared  to  ignorant  affluence, 
who,  ostrich-like,  hides  its  head  to  all 
true  knowledge  except  that  of  acquir- 
ing wealth  far  beyond  its  necessities. 

This  is  a  deviation  from  floral  dec- 
orations, but  I  will  apply  the  argu- 
ment to  show  that  reformers  in  our 
line,  men  who  were  not  afraid  to  step 
out  of  the  beaten  track,  have  likely 
been  sneered  at  by  hundreds  of  fogies 
who  perhaps  had  nothing  to  say  in  ar- 
gument against  a  new  idea  only  that 
the  author  was  "getting  gay,"  or 
"thinks  he's  smart."  Every  time  some 
man  of  bright  ideas  bring  out  an  ar- 
tistic move  we  ought  to  be  thankful, 
for  by  slow  degrees  our  ideas  of  the 
artistic  part  of  our  business  have  been 
moved  upward  and  onward.  A  move 
in  the  wrong  direction  will  soon  die 
out,  for  upward  and  onward  and  prog- 
ress are  as  sure  to  come  as  that  we 
have  progressed  from  the  savage,  and 
have  lots  of  room  for  improvement  yet. 

The  last  twenty  years  have  given  us 
material  that  was  not  dreamed  of  in 
the  early  days.  We  had  smilax,  but 
we  did  not  have  Asparagus  plumosus. 
We  had,  but  did  not  then  avail  our- 
selves of  the  Magnolia  grandiflora 
sprays,  the  Mountain  Laurel  (kalmia). 
Holly  was  scarcely  ever  seen.  Lycopo- 
dium  (ground  pine)  was  little  used. 
Leucothoe  sprays  were  unknown;  also 
the  southern  wild  smilax.  Adiantum 
cuneatum  was  used,  but  in  no  such 
quantities  as  now.  And  in  cut  flowers 
we  did  not  have  our  long-stemmed 
carnations,  or  our  magnificent  Ameri- 
can Beauty  rose.  And  the  glorious 
buds  of  Mermet  and  Perle  or  Cornelia 
Cook  were  very  scarce  twenty-five 
years  ago.  We  had  to  be  content  with 
Safrano,  Isabella  Sprunt  and  Bon  Si- 
lene.  As  for  palms,  the  use  of  them 


68 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


with  the  majority  of  florists  began 
about  twenty  years  ago  and  has  yearly 
increased  till  it  would  be  safe  to  say 
that  compared  with  twenty-five  years 
ago  palms  are  bought  up  and  sold  or 
used  up  at  the  rate  of  at  least  ten 
thousand  to  one. 

The  rather  stringent  times  of  the 
past  five  or  six  years  among  many 
wealthy  people  has  cut  down  the  price 
of  decorations  and  no  great  advance 
in  style  has  been  made.  And  the  pre- 
vailing style  is  a  very  natural  and  sim- 
ple one,  but  good  amounts  can  be  ob- 
tained for  good  jobs.  It  is  quality 
more  than  quantity  that  is  asked  for. 

Wedding  Decorations. 

At  a  wedding  decoration  there  is^ 
often  some  particular  color  that  we 
have  to  follow,  and  while  in  details  we 
must  use  our  taste  and  skill,  in  the 
general  plan  we  must  follow  the  wishes 
of  our  patrons,  if  they  command.  At 
a  home  wedding  there  is  usually  an 
opportunity  for  the  florist  to  show  his 
skill  in  arranging  a  fine  bank  of  palms 
as  a  background  to  the  happy  pair. 
This  should  be  high  and  broad  and 
light  and  graceful,  not  thick  and 
dense.  If  the  chandeliers  and  mirrors 
are  ornamented  with  greenery,  aspar- 
agus should  always  be  used  and  no  at- 
tempt be  made  to  follow  the  out.in^s 
of  the  chandelier,  but  thrown  on  very 
loosely.  Instead  of  clearing  off  all  the 
costly  and  beautiful  ornaments  from 
the  mantel  piece,  as  we  used  to,  and 
putting  on  a  slab  of  flowers,  they  are 
now  decorated  with  two  or  three  vasas 
of  the  finest  long-stemmed  flowers, 
such  as  roses,  carnations  or  chrysan- 
themums. All  flowers  are  wanted  on 
long  stems,  and  all  can  be  so  supplied 
with  one  important  exception,  i.  e., 
orchids;  and  orchids  will  be  asked  for 
in  increased  quantities,  depend  upon 
it,  and  if  you  can't  supply  them  your 
customers  will  go  to  some  one  who 
can. 

Orchids  are  so  desirable  when  cut, 
and  it  being  impossible  to  cut  any 
stem  with  some  of  them,  cattleyas  par- 
ticularly, that  wherever  there  is  an 
arrangement  of  them  they  are  used  in 
baskets  or  some  low  arrangement,  and 
nothing  accompanies  them  better  than 
maiden-hair  ferns. 

Instead  of  banks  of  palms,  except 
when  occasion  demands  such,  the 
plant  decorations  are  made  by  stand- 
ing singly  in  every  available  spot  a 
perfect  specimen  of  palm  or  dracaena 
or  croton.  No  such  thing  as  a  flower 
pot,  however  clean,  should  be  exposed. 
The  florist  should  have  on  hand  hand- 
some jars  in  which  the  single  speci- 
mens should  stand.  And  in  the 
groups,  if  the  pots  are  not  hidden  by 
the  smaller  plants,  then  small  plants 
of  the  Boston  fern,  or  better  still,  As- 
paragus Sprengeri,  must  finish  the  bot- 
tom edge  of  the  bank. 

In  regard  to  the  vases  of  flowers. 
You  are  often  asked  to  furnish  vases, 
and  you  should  always  be  able  to  sup- 
ply them. 

None  will  differ  with  me  when  I  as- 


sert that  nothing  embellishes  a  flower 
like  its  own  foliage.  Roses  Should 
have  nothing  more,  nor  lily  of  the  val- 
ley, tulips  or  any  of  the  bulbous  stuff, 
or  chrysanthemums.  If  your  chrjsin- 
themum  foliage  is  not  good  cut  some 
that  is.  Anything  else  would  be  ridic- 
ulous. But  carnations  are  weak  in 
foliage  and  sprays  of  Asparagus 
Sprengeri  go  well  with  them. 

Christinas  Decorations. 

Christmas  decorations  are  of  many 
kinds.  Many  good  society  people  pre- 
fer to  rent  a  public  hall  or  assembly 
room  when  they  are  going  to  give  a 
dance  to  500  people,  rather  than  turn 
their  home  upside  down  for  a  week. 
Perhaps  the  "old  man"  kicks.  I  don't 
blame  him.  If  well  heeled  I  should 
say,  "Go  and  have  your  fun;  all  you 
want;  but  don't  disturb  my  easy  chair. 
I  will  pay  the  bills,  but  be  careful,  my 
dear  wife  and  daughter." 

At  these  events  the  florist  has  a 
great  chance  to  display  his  skill  arjd 
taste,  and  his  work  shows  to  the  great- 
est advantage,  as  the  halls  are  gener- 
ally bare  of  any  permanent  decoration 
and  well  repay  the  florist's  work. 
Here  is  where  your  wreathing  of  laurel 
the  best  of  all  comes  in.  Pillows  and 
balconies  are  draped  with  wild  smilax. 
chandeliers  and  gas  jets  are  adorned 
with  hol'y  branches,  the  mistletoe 
bough  hangs  in  some  convenient  nook, 
and  the  evening  has  all  the  features  of 
old  England  (except  the  accent  of  the 
people)  a  hundred  years  ago.  Christ- 
mas, once  so  coolly  kept  in  this  coun- 
try, is  now  the  great  festival  of  the 
year  with  Jew  and  Gentile  alike.  We 
often  hear  from  our  patrons  when  we 
are  taking  an  order:  "We  want  it  to 
look  and  feel  real  Christmassy,  you 
know."  They  hardly  know  themselves 
what  that  is,  but  the  feeling  runs  in 
song  and  legend,  and  that  Christmas 
is  associated  with  holly  and  red  ber- 
ries. "The  mistletoe  hung  in  the  cas- 
tle hall,  the  holly  branch  hung  on  the 
castle  wall." 

Laurel  and  leucothoe  are  always 
used  in  v  wreathing  and  are  very  effec- 
tive, looking  much  richer  than  wreath- 
ing of  ground  pine.  The  magnol'a 
sprays  are  fine  on  panels  or  walls  and 
should  not  be  crowded,  but  should 
show  their  fine  outlines. 

Holly  is  prettiest  in  branches  and 
sprays,  and  there  are  lots  of  places  to 
use  it. 

The  wild  smilax  is  the  greatest  ac- 
quisition of  all.  Just  wound  around 
pillars,  covering'  ceilings,  or  on  the 
outlines  of  arches,  it  is  grand  and  be- 
coming. 

There  is  usually  a  stage  in  the  hall 
and  there  is  a  place  to  make  a  palm 
display  of  the  finest  kind.  If  flowering 
plants  are  used  they  are  usually  col- 
ored azaleas  and  poinsettias.  The  lat- 
ter is  now  a  standard  decorative  plant 
in  many  cities,  and  always  wanted  in 
decorations  around  the  holidays.  It  is 
associated  with  Christmas  as  much  as 
the  holly  berries,  and  with  us  is 
known  as  the  Christmas  flower. 


Church  Decorations. 

Church  decorations  are  sometimes 
very  elaborate,  palms  being  of  the 
greatest  service,  and  many  times  the 
flowers  used  must  be  only  white. 
There  is  where  our  Lilium  Harrisii 
and  L.  longiflorum  are  of  so  great  a 
value,  and  early  white  chrysanthe- 
mums in  the  fall.  In  addition  to  the 
palms,  some  perfectly  fresh,  clean, 
handsome  bay  trees,  both  the  standard 
and  pyramidal,  can  be  used  with  great 
effect,  their  formal  shape,  that  might 
look  stiff  and  awkward  in  a  drawing 
room,  is  in  keeping  with  the  solemn 
tone  and  architecture  of  a  church. 

Easter  decorations  have  undergone 
a  great  change,  and  it  has  been  largely 
by  the  will  of  the  pastors.  In  addition 
to  their  sacred  ideas  they  have  also 
secular  notions,  and  among  them  is 
one  that  it  is  a  waste  of  money  for  the 
congregation  to  donate  a  hundred  dol- 
lars, more  or  less,  for  flowers;  they 
believe  it  would  be  better  added  to 
their  salary  or  given  to  the  poor,  as  if 
the  florist  was  not  poor  enough.  So 
many  a  church  decoration  no  longer 
exists  among  our  regular  orders,  but 
there  are  just  as  many  plants  sold 
which  are  sent  as  offerings  to  the 
church,  and  "the  ladies  of  the  congre- 
gation, assisted  by  the  deacons,  ar- 
range the  donatiuas."  and  then  tne 
Monday  morning  paper  says:  "The  in- 
terior of  beautiful  St.  William's  was  a 
bower  of  beauty,  blending  its  incense 
with  the  heavenly  music  so  ably  ren- 
dered by  the  efficient  choir  under  the 
direction  of  Prof.  Flat." 

Some  churches  still  give  you  a  fixed 
sum  and  ask  you  to  make  as  good  a 
show  as  you  can  for  the  money.  And 
as  no  flowering  plants  should  ever  be 
loaned  they  ask  that  the  plants  be 
those  that  can  be  given  to  the  poor 
and  sick  of  the  parish  after  the  festi- 
val is  over.  A  very  beautiful  practice. 
You  have  given  joy  to  the  poor  who  re- 
ceived them  and  helped  the  poor  who 
grew  them. 

Designs  as  memorials  to  those  who 
have  gone  before  are  now  entirely  out 
of  fashion.  Even  the  Easter  cross, 
once  so  universally  used  on  this  occa- 
sion, is  now  not  asked  for,  as  the  altar 
is  furnished  with  a  gold  or  silver  cross 
presented  by  same  wealthy  member  of 
the  congregation.  With  all  this  our 
churches  are  beautiful  with  flowers 
sent  by  members  of  the  church,  and 
what  is  good  and  sensible  about  it  is 
that  it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  or 
two  denominations,  but  Episcopal  and 
Methodist,  Presbyterian  and  Unita- 
rian celebrate  with  flowers  and  music. 
This  is  right.  If  it  is  a  glad  day  for 
one  sect  it  must  be  for  all. 

Other  Decorations. 

I  have  made  mention  of  the  leading 
events  at  which  the  florist  and  his 
material  is  called  for  to  make  the 
home,  the  hall  or  the  church  radiant 
with  flowers  and  foliage.  Any  little 
social  event,  from  a  progressive  euchre 
party  to  a  grand  reception,  wants 
some  little  decoration,  even  if  it  is 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


69 


only  a  bunch  of  flowers.  The  use  of 
palms,  however,  is  getting  to  be  al- 
most overdone.  At  the  most  common- 
place dance  they  want  palms  for  the 
stage.  That  is  all  right.  And  in  the 
house  of  mourning  or  the  room  where 
the  departed  rests  a  few  pa'.ms  stood 
around  cannot  be  bad  taste,  but  for 
every  grammar  school  commence- 
ment, every  political  meeting,  a  few 
palms  are  wanted,  and  the  first  thing 
you  know  there  will  be  a  group  of 
palms  in  Sharkey  and  McCoy's  corner. 
Even  this  would  be  good  taste  above 
that  of  giving  a  half  dead  six  day 
bicycle  rider  a  basket  of  flowers,  or 
presenting  Mike  McSluggum  with  a 
bouquet  when  he  goes  to  bat.  When 
that  occurs  and  I  am  in  the  grand 


add  to  the  beauty  of  the  home,  the 
church,  the  hall,  and  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  all,  but  when  shabby  and 
shoddy  they  are  an  abomination.  There 
is  nothing  so  beautiful  as  a  flower,  and 
it  is  more  beautiful  on  the  plant  than 
anywhere  else.  A  faded  flower  can  bs 
cherished  only  for  some  sentiment  and 
is  kept  in  the  leaves  of  the  book  you 
refer  to  when  receiving  a  curtain  lec- 
ture from  your  second  wife. 

You  will  expect  me  to  say  some- 
thing about  prices,  but  it  is  impossi- 
ble. Seasons  alter  prices.  There  is, 
ihoweveir,  one  thing  w(e  should  ob- 
serve. The  charge  for  loaning  palms 
in  January  should  be  double  that  in 
June.  You  may  think  it  all  right  to 
cut  down  your  neighbor's  price  on 


Copyright  1899  by  H.  P.  Kelsey. 
Galax  Leaves. 


stand  I  am  ashamed  of  my  calling  and 
wish  I  was  a  walking  delegate. 

The  basket  of  flowers  for  M.ller  and 
the  bouquet  for  Mike  are  always  paid 
for,  and  generally  at  a  good  price,  but 
there  are  scores  of  times  when  our 
dozens  of  palms  are  not  paid  for.  The 
public  seems  to  think  the  cost  noth- 
ing, nor  the  carting  either.  We  must 
close  down  on  it.  If  they  paid  $3  or  $4 
for  the  loan  of  a  dozen  palms  it  would 
stop  them,  and  it  would  be  just  as  well 
if  it  did.  The  common  use  of  these 
ornamental  plants  will  turn  our 
wealthier  people  against  them. 

Decorations  of  any  kind,  plants  or 
flowers,  great  or  little,  when  well  done, 


palms  and  so  get  the  job  by  a  lower 
figure.  You  will  find  it  is  not  all 
profit.  Every  time  your  palms  go  out 
they  are  of  less  value,  however  well 
you  protect  and  guard  them. 

One  other  thing.  Get  a  reputation 
for  having  clean,  healthy,  perfect 
palms,  and  above  all  have  a  reputa- 
tion for  having  the  job  done  at  the 
hour  you  agree  to.  If  the  wedding  is 
at  6  p.  m.,  say  to  the  lady  of  the 
house:  "Madam,  I  will  be  out  of  your 
house  at  4  p.  m.,  all  cleared  up,  and 
you  will  have  no  occasion  to  worry." 
See  that  you  keep  your  word  and  you 
will  feel  as  good  as  I  do  at  finishing 
this  rather  long  chapter. 


DECORATIVE   MATERIAL    (WILD.) 

The  great  use  of  our  wild  or  native 
plants  for  decorations  dates  from 
about  twenty  years  ago  and  is  ever  on 
the  increase.  An  incentive  to  it  was 
the  much  greater  obsarvance  of  Chri  t- 
mas  day  as  a  church  festival  and  our 
greatest  and  most  joyous  holiday.  The 
hundreds  of  car  loads  of  holly  used  in 
our  northern  cities  today  had  a  very 
small  beginning.  It  is  just  twenty 
two  years  ago  that  a  patron  of  mine, 
a  lovely  woman,  one  of  those  who 
make  you  glad  you  live  and  contented 
with  your  lot,  sent  me  a  holly  wreath 
on  Christmas  eve.  -She  had  brought  it 
from  New  York  City,  and  thought  it 
would  be  a  novelty  and  a  pleasure  to 
me.  It  was  both.  It  brought  vividly 
to  mind  the  days  of  "auld  lang  syne" 
and  the  mother  country,  which,  how- 
ever true  and  loyal  is  your  allegiance 
to  your  adopted  country,  must  and 
should  forever  remain  a  warm  spot  in 
the  heart  of  every  man  worthy  of  the 
name. 

For  a  few  years  the  use  of  holly  in- 
creased slowly,  but  for  several  years 
past  immense  quantities  have  bsen 
sent  north,  and  it  must  grow  in  unlim- 
ited areas  to  stand  the  annual  drain  of 
our  holiday  wants.  Most  florists  who 
grow  and  retail  have  to  handle  these 
native  decorative  materials,  and  how 
to  preserve  them  in  good  order  is  of 
chief  importance. 

Holly  arrives  from  beginning  to  en  I 
of  December.  It  is  made  into  wreath- 
ing, but  much  larger  quantities  are 
used  as  sprays  and  branches.  Holly 
wreaths,  either  all  holly,  or  ground 
pine  and  holly,  are  made  and  sold  in 
enormous  quantities.  The  large 
wreaths  of  holly,  two  and  three  feet  in 
diameter,  are  handsome  and  look  well 
in  large  decorations.  It  should  wheu 
received  be  kept  in  the  cases  and  they 
should  be  stored  in  a  cold  shed,  but 
not  where  they  will  get  zero  weather. 
When  frozen  so  hard  the  berries  drop 
off  when  thawed  out.  Cool  but  not  too 
cold  is  right.  I  have  never  found  a 
better  place  for  the  wreaths  when 
made  than  a  cold,  dark  cellar,  but  in 
the  absence  of  that  a  cold  frame  with 
some  coarse  paper  to  lay  them  on,  and 
not  more  than  three  or  four  deep  will 
do,  and  cover  the  glass  with  mats  or 
boards  to  keep  out  the  light  and  exces- 
sive cold.  You  can't  make  these 
wreaths  all  on  Christmas  eve,  and 
have  to  begin  making  up  a  week  or 
more  ahead. 

Ground  pine  or  lycopodium,  which 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Poor  Lo  and  family 
gather  in  the  woods  of  Wisconsin,  is 
easily  kept.  It  comes  in  crates  and 
should  be  always  kept  outside,  but 
covered  with  a  cloth  of  some  kind,  or 
the  exposed  parts  quickly  get  browned. 
It  will  keep  a  long  time,  fresh  and 
green  in  the  crates  or  made  Into 
wreaths  or  wreathing,  if  kept  cool  and 
dark;  beneath  a  bench  in  a  Cool  house 
or  in  the  cold  frame  will  do.  When 
we  bring  in  the  bundles  to  prepare  for 
making  up,  dip  each  bunch  in  water 
for  a  minute  or  two;  it  will  make  It 


70 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Copyright  1899  by  H.  P.  Kelsey. 
Leucothoe  Sprays. 


more  pliable  and  easier  to  work  up, 
but  don't  leave  it  in  the  tub  over  night 
or  it  will  turn  black  after  you  have 
made  it  into  the  wreaths. 

Mistletoe  is  imported  from  France. 
We  have  the  southern  mistletoe,  but 
it  is  not  the  kind  the  Druids  worshiped 
and  has  no  such  associations,  and  al- 
though it  may  answer  the  purpose 
(the  pleasant  purpose)  of  kissing  your 
wife's  sister  beneath,  it  is  not  the  real 
thing.  It  seemed  in  better  demand 
than  ever  last  year,  and  as  its  privi- 
lege powers  are  better  known  it  will 
be  a  favorite  with  young  and  old  of 
both  sexes.  I  think  last  Christmas 
was  the  first  season  that  we  had  any 
more  than  realized  thei  cost  of  it.  It 
had  been  in  other  years  mauled  about 
in  a  dry  store  for  a  few  days  till  there 
was  nothing  but  the  bare  twigs  left. 
We  placed  it  in  a  cool,  moist,  dark 
cellar,  and  handled  it  just  as  little  as 
possible,  only  to  sort  it  over  into  25 
cent,  50  cent,  $1,  $2  or  $3  sprays,  and 
in  that  way  were  not  only  able  to  fur- 
nish nice  berried  pieces,  but  made  a 
little  money  besides.  It's  not  a  large 
commercial  transaction,  but  you  may 
as  well  do  it  fight. 

Laurel,  so  called  (Kalmia  latifolia), 
is  the  finest  material  for  wreathing, 
and  thousands  of  yards  are  used  for 
many  and  various  kinds  of  decora- 
tions. It  lasts  a  long  time  in  good  ap- 
pearance, fresh  and  no  dropping  of 
leaves.  It  is  clean  and  pleasant  to 
handle.  Though  not  so  cheap  as  the 
ground  pine  wreathing,  it  is  a  _hun- 
dred  times  richer  in  effect.  Laurel  is 
procured  from  the  Allegheny  moun- 
tains at  any  time  and  is  widely  distrib- 
uted. It  will  keep  after  cutting  a  long 
time  in  any  cool  place. 

The  branches  of  the  noble  Magnolia 
grandiflora,  which  grows  in  latitudes 


where  the  thermometer  does  not  go 
below  15  degrees  of  frost,  makes  a 
fine  decoration,  and  should  always  be 
used  in  sprays  or  branches.  The  fine, 
bright  glossy  green  of  the  leaf  is  seen 
to  great  advantage  contrasting  with 
the  bronze  old  gold  color  of  the 
underside  of  the  leaf.  The  branches 
when  received  should  be  kept  cool  and 
moist  and  not  exposed  to  hard  freez- 
ing or  allowed  to  shrivel  from  dry- 
ness. 

The  leucothoe  sprays  are  a  more  re- 
cent introduction  and  are  very  orna- 
mental. They  make  magnificent 
wreaths  or  wreathing,  being  excep- 
tionally easy  to  handle  for  this  pur- 
pose. Their  use  is  not  confined  to  the 
'holidays;  like  the  laurel,  they  are 
used  thoughout  the  winter  months. 
Keep  cool  and  moist. 

Though  small  in  bulk,  the  greatest 
in  value  of  all  the  wild  plants  is  the 
galax,  the  leaves  of  which  are  used 
for  wreaths,  panels,  all  designs  em- 


blematic and  of  good  luck.  It  is,  how- 
ever, for  funeral  designs  that  the 
greatest  quantity  is  used.  They  have 
grown  steadily  in  favor  till  last  year 
an  aggregate  of  twelve  millions  were 
sent  north.  The  small,  green  leaves 
are  now  largely  used  to  encircle  a 
bunch  of  violets.  They  have  one  great 
quality,  for  whatever  purpose  used 
they  are  most  lasting,  and  when  a  de- 
sign has  to  be  sent  away  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  they  are  often  chosen  for 
that  excellent  quality. 

Mr.  Harlan  P.  Kelsey,  of  Boston, 
who  introduced  the  galax  leaves  to 
our  northern  market  in  1890,  says  the 
sale  has  steadily  increased  till  last  year- 
he  alone  handled  some  seven  millions, 
while  the  price  has  come  down  from 
$3  per  1,000  to  $1  to  the  retail  florist, 
and  inferior  leaves  much  below  that 
even.  There  has  been  a  considerable 
lot  exported  to  Europe  the  past  two 
seasons,  and  Mr.  Kelsey  says  Ger- 
many takes  the  bulk  of  them. 

Florists  who  have  not  the  conven- 
iences for  keeping  them  over  winter 
in  large  quantities  had  better  get 
them  in  moderate  quantities  occasion- 
ally from  those  who  understand  keep- 
ing them  in  cold  storage.  We  saw  a 
case  of  twenty  thousand  put  down  in 
a  warm  cellar  last  November,  just  as 
they  arrived  in  the  box,  and  we  saw 
'most  of  (those  come  up  the  cellar 
stairs  again  at  intervals  this  winter 
and  spring  heated  and  useless.  If  they 
had  been  unpacked,  the  bunches  laid 
out  and  a  little  damp  sphagnum  laid 
between  each  layer,  this  careless  and 
ignorant  mistake  would  not  have  oc- 
curred, but  the  cooler  the  cellar  the 
better. 

This  instance  of  how  not  to  keep 
galax  leaves  was  not  an  accident;  it 
was  neglect,  for  which  in  the  old 
harsh  days  men  used  to  lose  their 
jobs;  but  since  store  clerks  (alias 
shopmen)  wear  five-inch  stiff  collars 
and  part  their  hair  in  the  middle,  it 
hurts  their  feelings  to  instruct  them. 

There  are  besides  the  southern 
material,  evergreens  from  our  north- 
ern woods  that  we  use  for  different 
decorations.  The  common  hemlock 
(Abies  canadensis)  is  quite  graceful  in 
wreathing,  and  the  American  arbor- 


Kelsey's  Southern 
Galax  Leaves  and  Leucothoe  Sprays 

Write  the  introducer  for  latest  prices  and  information. 

Brilliant  Green  and  Bronze.  Only  the  Richest  Colored 

Long  Wiry  Stems.     Packed  in  Original  Cases.  Firm  Leaves  sent  out. 

IralOLD  direct  or  drop  a  postal  and  the  name  of  the  whole- 
M    sale  florist  handling  my  superior  stock  will  be  sent 

you.    You  will  save  disappointment  by  insisting  on 

having  my  stock.    Most  of  the  "cheap"  leaves  offered  are 
my  discarded  "culls."    Always  address 

HARLAN  P.  KELSEY, 


A  large  stock  of  finest  Galax  and  Sprays  always  kept  in 
cold  storage  in  Boston  for  shipment  during  the  summer. 


1 06  Tremont  Bldg,,  BOSTON,  MASS, 


vitae,  often  called  white  cedar,  is  use- 
ful. A  drive  of  a  few  miles  to  the 
music  of  sleigh  bells  and  frozen  toes 
brings  us  to  the  home  of  our  ever- 
greens, and  the  white  spruce,  so  much 
used  for  Christmas  trees,  is  also  found, 
although  the  well-grown  Norway 
spruce  makes  the  ideal  Christmas  tree. 
Fancy  what  beautiful  Christmas  trees 
they  get  in  Leadville,  Col.,  where  the 
beautiful  Colorado  blue  spruce  grows 
on  the  mountain  side,  and  with  us  it 
is  about  $2.00  a  foot.  Wei  will  not  be 
jealous  of  their  noble  conifers,  for 
perhaps  their  rocky  slopes  are  not 
covered  with  golden  rod  as  are  our 
fields  and  lanes  just  now,  and  how 
beautiful. 

DECORATIVE  PLANTS. 

Besides  the  plants  that  are  grown 
and  kept  for  decorative  purposes  for 
special  occasions,  much  of  our  glass, 
and  acres  of  glass  in  large  establish- 
ments, are  devoted  to  the  growing  of 
plants  used  in  a  decorative  way,  either 
as  permanent  adornments  of  the  houss 
or  for  the  florist's  use  when  filling  an 
order. 


Exhibition  Group  of  Decorative  Plants. 

Generally  when  plants  are  known  as 
decorative  it  is  meant  those  whose 
foliage  is  ornamental  rather  than 
their  flowers,  and  my  remarks  under 
this  head  will  be  confined  mostly  to 
those  of  the  former  class. 

Palms. 

Palms  are  pre-eminently  ahead  of 
all  others  for  this  purpose.  Of  the 
species  or  varieties  adapted  to  the 
purpose  there  is  at  present  not  a  great 
number.  They  must  be  of  fairly  quick 
growth,  not  easily  hurt  by  a  low  tem- 
perature and  able  to  stand  a  good  deal 
of  rough  handling. 

The  Areca  lutescens  I  place  ahead  of 
all  as  the  handsomest.  It  is  light  and 
graceful.  Next  the  Kentias  Forster- 
iana  and  Belmoreana.  These,  like  the 
areca,  are  fine  in  effect  whether  used 
singly  or  in  a  group.  The  Phoenix,  es- 
pecially rupicola,  comes  next,  although 
these  do  not  blend  in  a  group  and  are 
best  as  small  or  medium  sized  speci- 
mens, where  they  can  show  off  their 
graceful  outlines.  The  Latania  bor- 
bonica  is  fine  where  you  can  find  a 
suitable  place.  We  are  sometimes  (in 


fact  often)  asked  to  place  a  palm  in 
a  fire-place,  and  there  is  the  spot  for  a 
latania.  Like  the  phoenix,  its  spread- 
ing growth  makes  it  not  so  well  suited 
for  mixing  in  with  the  tall  growing 
palms,  however  handsome  it  is  indi- 
vidually. The  graceful  little  Cocos 
Weddeliana  is  very  valuable  on  many 
occasions.  When  two  or  three  feet 
high  and  in  good  order,  there  is  noth- 
ing more  beautiful. 

There  are  many  other  palms  that 
are  just  as  ornamental  as  the  well- 
known  kinds  mentioned,  but  their 
variety  and  value  forbid  their  use. 
And  again,  the  kentias  and  arecas 
have  entirely  displaced  such  quick- 
growing  but  soft  kinds  as  seaforthia. 

Cycas  revoluta  makes  a  grand  orna- 
ment where  it  can  be  used  in  a,  very 
large  plant  vase,  perhaps  at  the  end 
of  a  room  or  hall,  but  should  be  so 
placed  that  its  perfect  outline  can  be 
seen  or  it  will  not  be  appreciated. 

As  to  the  hardiness  or  ability  to 
stand  rough  usage,  of  these  palms  I 
think  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt 
that  the  phoenix  are  the  best.  We 
have  a  pair  of  P.  rupicola  that  in  the 


72 

course  of  five  or  six  years  must, have 
heard  the  congratulations  of  the 
bride's  friends,  or  endured  the  orches- 
tra's strains,  the  Easter  and  Christ- 
mas sermons,  the  orator's  eloquence, 
and  the  chilly  ride  to  and  fro,  a  thou- 
sand times,  and  still  they  come  up 
smiling.  There  is  nothing  "like  the 
phoenix  in  this  respect. 

The  kentias  come  next  for  keeping 
in  fair  order,  but  kentias,  grand  house 
plants  as  they  are,  do  not  like  the 
slightest  frost.  I  have  noticed  that 
where  latanias  and  arecas  have  been 
carelessly  exposed  to  a  degree  of  frost 
they  will  recover,  but  not  so  with  the 
kentias.  The  arecas  will  answer  the 
purpose  for  a  long  time  if  the  leaves 
are  carefully  tied  when  they  go  out, 
and  this  care  should  also  be  given  the 
kentias.  The  latanias  suffer  most,  not 
because  they  are  more  tender,  but 
their  broad  leaves  get  more  easily 
broken  and  become  unsightly. 

I  remarked  under  the  head  of  deco- 
rations   that    the     charge    should    be 
about  twice  as  much  in  January  as  in 
June.  This  is  quite  true,  after  May  1st 
till  November  1st  it  does  little  harm 
to  palms   to  give   them  a  day  and  a 
night  or  more  in  a  hall  or  room,  and 
if  the  leaves  are  drawn  up  and  care- 
fully tied  with  raffia  they  can  be  sent 
out   in   an   open   wagon.     When    the 
thermometer  is  10  degrees  below  zero 
it  is  very  different.   In  addition  to  the 
wagon  that  is  heated  you  have  to  tie 
up  each  plant  and  cover  with  paper  or 
a  bag,  for  the  distance  from  the  curb- 
stone to  the  door  of  the  house  is  fre- 
quently enough  to  ruin  your  palms  if 
not  protected.    Others  use  long  boxes, 
each  holding  a  half  dozen  plants.    As 
these   are  packed   in   the   warm    shed 
and  the  tight  cover  put  on,  and  the 
box  carried  into  a  warm  hall  or  vesti- 
bule   before    they    are   unpacked,    the 
palms  seldom  get  injured  by  cold,  but 
careful  and  thorough  tying  up  of  the 
leaves   is    more   of   a   necessity    even 
than   when   sent   in  a   heated   wagon. 
Never  scrimp  the  time  in  tying  up  the 
palms.    If  you  do  you  will  soon  have 
to   buy   more,   because  yours   will   be 
shabby,  and  the  price  of  one  good  areoa 
or  kentia  six  or  seven  feet  high  will 
pay   for   many    hours'    labor    on    the 
palms. 

Dracaenas. 

Next  to  the  palms  the  dracaenas  are 
most  useful  and  effective.  On  mantels, 
side-boards  or  tables,  perfect  speci- 
mens of  D.  terminalis  stricta,  D.  ama- 
bilis,  or  any  of  the  beautiful  hybrids, 
can't  be  equaled.  And  for  situations 
wanting  larger  plants  well-grown 
specimens  of  D.  nova-caledonica,  D. 
t'ragrans  and  D.  Lindenii  are  superb, 
and  they  should  always  be  so  situated 
that  the  entire  plant  can  be  seen.  I), 
indivisa  is,  of  cours?,  very  common, 
but  it  is  so  hardy  and  tough  that  it  is 
for  many  places  one  of  the  very  best 
decorative  plants  we  have.  Dracaenas 
of  the  terminalis  and  fragrans  type 
want  no  exposure  to  the  cold,  but  they 
are  easily  packed  and  their  leaves  can 
be  brought  up  and  tied  close  to  the 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 

stem  with  strips  of  tisisue  paper  with- 
out doing  any  harm. 

Crotons. 

On  all  occasions  except  during  cold 
weather  crotons  are  gorgeous  and 
grand  plants  for  decoration.?,  but  they 
must  not  be  chilled.  My  experience  is 
that  if  a  croton  is  exposed  to  a  tem- 
perature of  40  degrees  for  an  hour  it 
will  drop  its  handsome  leaves,  and  in 
the  winter  we  sometimes  expose  our 
palms  and  dracaenas  to  a  lower  tem- 
perature than  that  without  much  or 
any  damage.  So  large  plants  of  cro- 
tons had  better  be  kept  at  home. 

Small  plants  of  crotons  are  now 
raised  and  sold  almos:  as  cheaply  as 
fuchsias  or  geraniums,  and  if  you  do 
lose  them  you  have  possibly  charged 
enough  for  the  job  to  consider  it  no 
loss.  For  a  mantel  decoration  with 
vases  of  flowers,  or  for  plants  for  a 
banquet  table  nothing  can  be  finer 
than  the  many  grand  varieties  of  cro- 
tons. 

Adiantums. 

Several  species  of  ferns  are  among 
the  leading  articles  of  our  decorative 
stuff.  It  must  depend  upon  how  elab- 
orate and  expensive  the  decoration  is 
whether  you  can  use  the  very  choicest 
ferns.  Sometimes  at  the  bottom  of  a 
mirror  a  bank  of  Adiantum  Farleyense 
is  made  as  a  background  to  a  display 
of  orchids,  and  what  could  be  finer? 
Adiantum  cuneatum,  besides  its  great 
usefulness  in  supplying  cut  fronds,  is 
many  times  used  as  a  f rings-  or  bank, 
and  if  the  fronds  are  well  matured 
will  keep  pretty  well,  but  if  young 
growth  they  will  soon  snrivel  up  in  a 
warm,  dry  room. 

Asparagus. 

The  Asparagus  Sprengeri  is  a  great 
acquisition,  and  is  and  will  be  largely 
used.  Its  pendent  growths  make  it 
just  the  plant  to  hang  from  mantels  or 
book  cases,  or  to  cover  unsightly  pots. 
Some  plants  in  four  and  live  inch 
pots,  with  a  good  growth,  should  al- 
waysj  be  on  hand,  and  so  should  bas- 
kets of  this  useful  plant.  There  is 
scarcely  a  plant  that  so  rair.ily  adapts 
itself  to  the  very  unnatural  condi- 
tions of  a  hanging  basket.  Its  great 
freedom  of  growth  and  hardiness  un- 
der neglect  and  abuse  may  make  it  too 
common,  but  not  just  yet.  It  is  un- 
necessary ;to  say  that  this  plant 
thrives  under  the  most  unfavorable 
conditions — sun  or  shade,  wet  or  dry. 
I  have  tried  it  in  many  places  snd 
find  it  endures  the  gas,  the  wild  exag- 
gerations, the  anecdotes  and  classical 
quotations  of  a  suburban  barber  shoo; 
and  the  aspidistra  is  the  only  other 
plant  that  is  known  to  have  live-1 
through  that  ordeal.  The  Ficus  elas- 
tica  has  been  tried  in  tonsorial  envi- 
ronments, but  says:  "I  have  got  some 
credit  as  a  stretcher,  but  that  last 
yarn  kills  me." 

Nephrolepis. 

Most   of   our   omamen^i    ferns   are 
too    tender    for    decorative    purposes 


except  that  splendid  genus,  the  ne- 
phrolepis.  N.  tuberosa  is  now  super- 
seded for  indoor  use  by  N.  exaitata 
and  Bostoniensis.  The  latter  is  one  of 
the  greatest  acquisitions  that  we  have 
had  for  years.  Whether  in  a  mass  or 
a  large  specimen,  or  in  a  large  hang- 
ing basket,  it  is  most  ornamental,  and 
receives  not  the  slightest  harm  from 
an  occasional  trip  to  a  party  or  ball- 
room. It  is  in  fact  a  first-class  house 
plant,  so  it  must  be  valuable  as  a  dec- 
orator. 

Flowering  Plants. 

Unless  you  are  well  paid  for  the  dec- 
oration you  cannot  afford!  to  loan 
many  flowering  plants;  For  a  church 
decoration  we  are  never  asked,  but  for 
a  private  function  we  have  to,  and 
must  make  out  our  bill  or  estimate 
accordingly. 

Beginning  in  the  fall  the  chrysan- 
themums are  most  in  favor.  Groups  of 
yellow  or  pink  or  white  varieties  are 
often  called  for.  However  good  the 
care  given  these  plants  they  .are 
shaky  after  a  night  in  a  room  where 
there  has  been  a  strong  glare  of  gas 
and  a  crowd  of  people. 

Here  will  be  a  good  place  to  men- 
tion that  the  cause  of  carnations  (and 
perhaps  other  flowers)  closing  up  in 
one  night  in  a  room  or  hall  that  has 
been  crowded  with  people  is  the  fact 
that  there  has  been  such  a  crowd  of 
people.  We  have  noticed  this  in  both 
large  and  small  rooms,  and  it  was  sC.sj 
noticed  in  one  of  the  plant  houses  at 
Schenley  Park  in  Pittsburg,  where 
many  thousands  of  people  passed 
through  in  one  day.  The  carnations 
collapsed,  other  flowers  did  not.  But 
if  it  has  this  effect  on  carnations  the 
breath  of  the  multitude  in  one  room 
can't  be  good  for  any  flowers.  And  as 
a  rule  when  a  plant  goes  to  a  decora- 
tion'we  expect  it  to  return  much  the 
worse  for  wear. 

Azaleas,  from  December  to  May,  are 
the  finest  of  our  decorative  plants,  and 
after  a  few  days  for  recuperation  are 
again  of  service. 

At  the  holidays  the  poinsettia  is 
with  us  a  leading  article  and  is  now 
closely  associated  with  Christmas. 
They  droop  quickly  if  they  receive 
anything  like  a  chill. 

From  November  on  the  Liliums 
Harrisii  and  longiflomm  are  always 
in  demand. 

'Spiraea  wilts  worse  than  any  other 
plant,  and  should  receive  an  extra 
soaking  of  water  before  going  out. 

Plants  of  lilac,  deutzia,  Ghent  azalea 
and  cytisus  are  used  largely  in  the  late 
winter  and  spring  months. 

Whole  flats  of  tulips,  narcissi  and 
hyacinths  are  often  used,  with  ribbons 
to  match  the  colors  of  the  flowers. 
There  is  no  variety  of  tulip  so  fine  for 
decorating,  either  in  pans  or  flats,  as 
the  double  Murillo,  almost  pure  white 
when  first  opening,  but  assuming  on 
its  velvety  petals  the  finest  shade  of 
blush  pink,  and  so  large. 

Conclusion. 

I  can't  be  expected  to  exhaust  the 
full  list  of  the  many  plants,  both 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


n 


Plant  of  Deutzia  Gracilis,  trimmed  with  ribbon. 


foliage  and  flowering,  that  are  useful 
in  decorating.  There  are  few  plants 
but  what  have  a  distinct  beauty  if 
well  grown.  And  you  will  have  many 
tastes  and  many  grades  of  purses  to 
accommodate. 

No  plants  should  go  to  a  decoration 
unless  they  are  clean  and  in  good  or- 
der. No  dirty  pots  should  ever  go, 
never  mind  whether  they  are  to  be 
hidden  or  not.  It's  enough  to  turn 
the  hostess  against  you  when  she  sees 
them  enter  her  door. 

One  very  important  thing  is  this: 
All  plants  that  are  taken  out  and  ex- 
pected to  keep  their  heads  up  and  look 
well  all  the  afternoon  and  evening 
should  be  well  watered  an  hour  or  two 
before  they  are  packed  for  their  dress 
parade,  which  the  entertainment  is  to 
them. 

We  find  it  unwise  to  mix  up  the 
palms  and  dracaenas  that  we  use  for 
decorations  with  the  stock  that  is 
kept  for  sale.  However  careful  you 
are  some  little  marring  will  be  sure 
to  occur,  and  if  you  are  not  careful  you 
will  have  your  whole  collection,  per- 
haps a  fine  one  to  look  at  in  the  aggre- 
gate, but  when  you  want  a  perfect 
kentia,  green  to  the  very  tips,  you 
won't  find  it  among  those  that  have 
been  out  visiting. 

Let  the  line  be  drawn  between  those 
you  loan  and  those  you  want  to  sell, 


and  if  you  do  much  decorating  you 
will  want  every  summer  a  good  house 
cleaning.  Give  your  worn-out  palms 
to  the  nearest  botanical  garden,  or  to 
the  rubbish  pile  when  beyond  a  certain 
degree  of  shabbiness.  It  is  most  un- 
profitable to  occupy  space  with  use- 
less old  runts. 

DEUTZIA. 

Several  of  the  species  are  among  our 
earliest  and  best  known  flowering 
shrubs,  and  gracilis,  the  smaller  grow- 
ing pure  white  species,  is  largely  forced 
as  an  Easter  plant.  It  is  sold  in  pots 
or  used  for  decorations,  or  the  cut 
sprays  are  used.  There  is  a  new  form 
of  gracilis  called  Lemoineii,  quite 
double,  a  beautiful  flower  and  more 
lasting  than  the  single.  The  double 
form  is  not  yet  quite  so  common  and 
consequently  is  more  expensive,  but  it 
will  soon  be  grown  as  plentifully  as 
gracilis.  Plants  for  forcing  of  any  size 
can  be  imported  so  cheaply  and  so 
well  and  compactly  grown  that  it  is 
useless  to  attempt  to  grow  plants  for 
forcing;  they  would  cost  you  far  more. 

Those  wanting  to  grow  them  to  raise 
in  the  nursery  for  flowering  shrubs 
can  root  them  most  easily  from  the 
young  tender  shoots  taken  from  forced 
plants  in  February  or  March  and  put 
into  the  ordinary  propagating  bed  or 


from  outside  cuttings  in  June  put  into 
sand  in  a  hot-bed. 

When  you  receive  the  deutzias  in 
the  month  of  November  don't  expose 
them  to  zero  weather.  They  are  a 
hardy  plant,  but  after  their  sea  voy- 
age are  poorly  prepared  for  a  hard 
freeze.  The  stems  are  studded  to  their 
tips  with  their  flowering  buds,  so  they 
want  no  pruning  or  you  will  get  no 
flowers.  Keep  them  protected  by  a 
cold-frame  and  their  roots  covered  till 
you  pot  them  up  for  forcing.  They 
should  have  about  seven  weeks  under 
glass  in  a  night  temperature  of  50  de- 
grees, then  they  will  be  nicely  out  and 
not  unduly  forced. 

For  forcing  we  prefer  to  buy  every 
year,  but  unsold  plants  if  planted  out 
make  good  bushes  for  selling  with 
>ther  hardy  shrubs. 

DIANTHUS. 

To  this  genus  belongs  our  Divine 
flower  the  carnation,  which  has  been 
treated  at  length  as  its  value  deserves. 
D.  barbatus  is  the  well  known  Sweet 
William,  a  splendid  border  plant  while 
in  bloom  but  not  of  any  commercial 
value.  Perhaps  because  seen  too  often 
in  the  humblest  gardens,  or  for  some 
reason  not  apparent,  it  is  not  a  flower 
that  can  be  used  in  the  commonest 
bouquet,  though  in  June  and  July  it 
makes  a  splendid  show  of  bloom  of  the 
richest  tints  and  markings. 

The  seed  of  the  Sweet  Williams  can 
be  sown  in  May  in  a  cold-frame  and 
when  the  plants  are  large  enough 
transplanted  into  flats  or  placed  at 
once  in  the  borders  where  they  are  to 
flower.  They  will  make  fine  spread- 
ing plants,  and  being  entirely  hardy 
will  send  up  a  mass  of  bloom  the  fol- 
lowing spring.  They  are  biennials, 
but  a  few  straggling  plants  and  flow- 
ers are  often  seen  to  survive  two  or 
three  years. 

The  Dianthus  chinensis  and  its 
splendid  varieties,  Heddewigii  and  its 
many  forms,  are  the  most  useful  to 
the  florist.  They  also  are  biennials 
but  are  invariably  treated  as  annuals 
and  sown  every  spring.  For  their 
culture  follow  instructions  given  un- 
der the  heading  Aster  and  you  will 
have  no  trouble.  They  look  well  in 
either  the  mixed  border  or  in  a  solid 
bed. 

DRACAENA. 

In  garden  nomenclature  the  names 
Dracaena  and  Cordyline  are  inter- 
changeable, but  I  prefer  to  call  them 
dracaenas,  by  which  name  they  are 
commonly  known,  although  botanical 
authorities  class  some  of  our  dracae- 
nas as  cordylines. 

The  dracaenas  are  noble,  erect  grow- 
ing foliage  plants,  grown  entirely  for 
the  beauty  of  their  leaves  and  stately 
habit,  for  the  flower  is  small  and  in- 
conspicuous compared  to  the  plant. 
They  do  not  usually  flower  till  they 
attain  considerable  size,  although  oc- 
casionally they  flower  when  quite 
young,  possibly  through  some  check  to 
the  vigor  of  the  plant. 


74 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


*  Though  not  of  equal  commercial 
value  to  the  palms  as  greenhouse  and 
hot  house  decorative  plants,  they  cer- 
tainly rank  very  high.  Some  of  them 
are  excellent  plants  for  the  house.  I 
have  in  mind  a  plant  of  D.  fragrans 
Lindenii  some  3  feet  high  in  a  9-inch 
pot,  furnished  to  the  pot  with  its 
beautiful  leaves,  that  has  stood  sev- 
eral feet  from  a  window  in  a  sitting 
room  for  the  past  six  months,  and  is 
to  all  appearance  in  perfect  health. 
Pandanus  utilis,  the  ideal  house  plant, 
could  not  beat  this. 

Some  of  the  species  may  grow  6 
feet  or  30  feet  in  their  native  habitat, 
and  with  age  have  bare  stems 
crowned  with  a  tuft  of  leaves,  but  our 
object  in  growing  them  as  small  or 


Except  in  the  darkest  days  of  win- 
ter dracaenas  should  have  a  thorough 
daily  syringing.  By  thorough  is  meant 
that  every  particle  of  the  underside  of 
the  leaf  should  receive  a  good  force 
from  the  syringe  or  hose.  This  ne- 
cessitates a  good  condition  of  the  soil 
that  the  water  will  pass  freely 
through.  The  moisture  arising  from 
the  syringing  is  conducive  to  growth, 
but  a  necessity  as  well  to  keep  down 
thrip  and  red  spider,  which  are  very 
fond  of  dracaenas,  especially  the  ter- 
minalis  type,  and  will  soon  ruin  the 
appearance  of  the  leaf  if  allowed  to 
commence  their  work. 

Propagation  in  nearly  all  species  is 
by  cuttings,  which  grow  from  the  ri- 
pened stems.  The  leading  shoot  will 


Dracaena  Lindenii. 


medium  sized  decorative  plants  is  to 
preserve  the  leaves  to  the  very  bottom 
of  the  stem  and  with  the  best  cultiva- 
tion they  will  carry  their  bottom 
leaves  for  some  years. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  fragrans 
type  (tropical  Africa)  will  bear  and 
require  10  degrees  more  heat  in  the 
winter  time  than  the  terminalis  and 
the  high  colored  varieties.  The  ter- 
minalis type  will  do  very  well  in  a 
minimum  winter  temperature  of  55  to 
60  degrees,  while  fragrans  and  its  va- 
rieties and  Goldieana  require  10  de- 
grees higher.  Fragrans  also  wants  a 
good  shade  in  the  summer  months, 
while  the  varieties  of  terminalis  need 
shade  only  from  the  brightest  rays  of 
the  sun. 


root  freely  but  this  would  be  a  very 
slow  process,  so  stems  are  imported, 
or  the  ripened  stems  of  old  plants  are 
used.  They  can  be  cut  up  into  pieces 
one  to  two  inches  long,  or  the  whole 
length  of  the  stem  can  be  laid  in  the 
propagating  bed.  A  good  mixture  for 
the  propagating  bed  is  coarse  sand 
and  chopped  sphagnum  in  equal  parts, 
and  the  heat  of  the  bed  should  be  80 
degrees.  Let  the  stem  be  even  with 
surface  of  bed.  From  the  eyes  or 
joints  will  spring  young  shoots  which 
when  two  or  three  inches  long  can  be 
cut  from  the  stems,  and  they  quickly 
root  in  warm  sand  and  are  soon  on 
the  road  to  make  young  plants. 

The  soil  for  dracaenas  should  be  a 
good  loam,  not  too  finely  broken  up, 


and  a  fourth  of  leaf-mould,  and  the 
plants  potted  moderately  firm.  The 
pots,  which  should  never  be  larger 
than  necessary,  should  have  an  inch  of 
broken  crocks  covered  with  a  layer 
of  green  moss;  this  is  as  near  good 
drainage  as  you  can  get. 

Some  of  the  species  are  very  beauti- 
ful, but  more  suitable  for  the  private 
collection  than  for  the  commercial 
man. 

D.  Draco:  Very  suitable  for  sub- 
tropical gardening  or  for  vases. 

D.  Goldieana:  Beautifully  marked 
with  dark  green  and  silvery  grey. 

D.  fragrans:  This  is  one  of  the  fin- 
est species,  requiring  a  good  heat  in 
winter  and  shade  in  summer. 

D.  fragrans  Lindenii:  Same  habit 
as  fragrans  but  the  leaf  has  a  series  of 
stripes  of  creamy  white  or  yellow  on 
each  side  of  the  green  center. 

D.  Massangeana:  Another  variegat- 
ed form  of  D.  fragrans,  the  chief  dis- 
tinction from  Lindenii  being  that  the 
variegation  appears  in  a  broad  band 
of  yellow  or  cream  color  throughout 
the  center  of  the  leaf. 

D.  australis:  A  fine  plant  for  out- 
side decoration. 

D.  Novo-Caledonica:  A  fine  bold 
species  with  large  bronze  leaves. 

D.  Sanderiana:  An  upright  striped 
green  and  white  species  of  recent  in- 
troduction which  has  proved  very 
good  for  the  center  of  large  ferneries, 
and  which  stands  the  dry  air  of  rooms 
admirably. 

D.  terminalis:  Green  or  bronze  when 
young.  With  age  the  leaves  assume 
fine  shades  of  scarlet  or  crimson.  Most 
generally  cultivated  of  all  dracaenas 
and  the  parent  of  scores  of  the  finest 
varieties.  The  following  will  be  found 
to  be  beautiful  and  distinct  sorts: 
Metallica,  dark  purplish  bronze;  ama- 
bilis,  fine  habit,  glossy  green  suffused 
with  pink  and  white;  Baptistii,  green 
margined  with  yellow  and  pink;  im- 
perialis,  broad  deep  green  leaves,  the 
younger  leaves  crimson  and  pink;  ter- 
minalis stricta  grandis,  the  most 
highly  colored  and  best  of  the  ter- 
minalis form;  Youngii,  bright  green 
streaked  with  deep  red;  and  Lord 
Wolsley,  Gladstoneii,  Rebecca,  Bella, 
Scottii,  and  Annerleyense,  are  all 
beautiful  varieties. 

D.  indivisa:  A  distinct  species  from 
New  Zealand.  It  will  thrive  in  a 
much  lower  temperature  than  any  of 
the  others  except  Draco.  There  are 
several  varieties  of  indivisa,  the  best 
of  which  are  Veitchii  and  lineata.  Un- 
like the  other  dracaenas  this  one  is 
easily  and  quickly  raised  from  seed. 
If  it  were  propagated  only  by  cuttings 
how  highly  prized  it  would  be,  for  no 
dracaena  has  more  grace.  What  makes 
it  most  valuable  to  the  commercial 
florist  is  its  ability  to  withstand  th£ 
sun  and  drought  to  which  it  is  ex- 
posed throughout  the  summer  in  our 
cemetery  vases.  It  not  only  lives  un- 
der these  unfavorable  conditions  but 
flourishes.  When  three  or  four  feet 
high  if  in  good  order  it  makes  a  splen- 
did decorative  plant  that  will  endure 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


75 


any  amount  of  hard  usage,  in  fact 
anything  but  freezing,  and  we  know 
that  it  even  comes  out  of  a  slight  frost 
unhurt.  The  seed,  which  is  very 
cheap,  should  be  sown  in  flats  in  win- 
ter or  spring.  We  prefer  to  grow 
them  the  first  year  under  glass,  and 
the  second  spring  plant  them  out  in 
some  good  light,  rich  soil.  The  fol- 
lowing fall  they  are  lifted  and  potted 
in  4  or  5-inch  pots  and  used  largely 
the  following  spring  for  our  vases  and 
veranda  boxes.  I  know  of  no  plant 
of  its  value  that  is  so  easy  to  grow 
and  of  so  great  a  use  to  the  florist. 
If  short  of  room  we  have  stood  the 
small  plants  under  a  light  bench  in 
a  cool  house  and  kept  them  rather 
dry,  where  they  have  done  well,  but 
if  you  want  them  to  grow  during  win- 
ter they  should  have  50  degrees  at 
night,  plenty  of  syringing  with  the 
hose,  and  they  are  troubled  with  noth- 
ing. In  a  few  hundred  seedlings  you 
will  see  quite  a  variation  of  character; 
some  with  leaves  almost  a  bronze  red. 
They  should  be  put  aside  and  grown 
on  with  care;  they  may  turn  out  to  be 
of  great  beauty  and  value. 

DRAINAGE. 

There  is  nothing  much  more  puzzl- 
ing to  the  beginner  in  floriculture  than 
the  word  "drainage"  when  applied  to 


Dracaena  Fr agrans. 


Dracaena.  Massangeana. 


potted  plants,  especially  as  some 
authors  of  recent  years  have  ignored 
the  theory  of  drainage  entirely  and 
pronounced  it  wrong  in  theory  and  a 
waste  of  money  and  time  in  practice. 
There  are  few  farmers,  nurserymen  or 
market  gardeners  who  do  not  believe 


in  the  practice  of  draining.  Some  land 
may  need  it  more  than  others  but  all 
are  benefited  by  a  system  of  drainage 
except  it  be  a  good  loam  lying  on  a 
gravel. 

I  am  not  going  into  the  art  of  drain- 
ing land  but  the  principle,   if   right 


with  land  is  right  in  our  flower  pots. 
Years  ago  it  was  carried  out  to  an  ab- 
surdity. A  piece  of  crock  in  the  bot- 
tom of  a  4-inch  geranium  or  canna  is 
absurd  and  no  one  does  such  a  thing 
now.  If  a  plant  is  going  to  stop  in  a 
pot  but  a  few  weeks  or  even  a  few 
months  and  is  necessarily  a  quick  and 
strong  rooter  like  a  lily  there  is  no 
need  of  any  drainage.  In  the  case  of 
plants  that  may  stop  a  year,  or  per- 
haps two  or  three  years,  in  the  same 
pot,  if  you  were  sure  that  the  water 
was  always  going  to  pass  freely  away 
as  it  does  at  the  first  month  or  two, 
there  would  be  no  need  of  drainage, 
but  worms  get  in  and  work  the  soil 
into  a  putty  state,  or  the  soil  gets  so 
packed  at  the  bottom  of  the  pot  that 
water  does  not  pass  away  freely. 

Much  as  plants  enjoy  the  watering 
when  in  need  of  it,  terrestrial  plants 
don't  exactly  feed  on  it.  The  water 
passes  away,  leaves  the  soil  moist 
and  full  of  moist  air  spaces,  which  the 
roots  are  continually  absorbing  till  it 
is  gone  and  they  want  more.  See  how 
easy  it  is  to  kill  most  any  plant  when 
the  water  remains  in  the  pot  and 
keeps  the  soil  for  a  few  days  saturated. 
So  plants  want  water  to  pass  through 
the  soil  but  not  remain  there,  and 
with  all  plants  that  are  going  to  re- 
main any  time  in  the  same  pot  (aza- 
leas are  a  good  example)  they  should 
have  what  we  call  drainage. 

With  pots  not  over  five  inches  in  di- 
ameter a  broad  crock  at  the  bottom 
covered  with  a  piece  of  green  moss, 
and  with  larger  pots  in  addition  to 
the  piece  of  crock  covering  the  hole 
an  inch  or  so  of  broken  crocks  and  the 
moss.  The  green  wood  moss  is  much 
better  for  the  purpose  than  sphagnum 


76 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


because  the  sphagnum  soon  rots  and 
the  compost  gets  down  among  the 
crocks.  You  will  sometimes  see  the 
healthiest  and  strongest  roots  of  a 
plant  down  among  the  crocks.  I  be- 
lieve it  is  because  they  find  there  the 
conditions  to  suit  them  best — perfect 
drainage. 

How  particular  we  are  that  the 
benches  of  our  carnations  and  roses 
are  drained  by  simply  keeping  the 
boards  ^2  or  %  inch  apart,  so  that 
if  watered  heavily  it  can  pass  quickly 
away.  And  so  long  as  our  flower  pots 
are  made  with  that  one  small  hole  we 
will  have  to  make  provisions  to  let 
water  escape  freely.  The  author  who 
30  years  ago  laughed  at  the  "old  fogy" 
notion  of  draining  a  flower  pot  lived 
to  alter  his  opinion  and  freely  ack- 
nowledged it. 


just  in  perfection,  so  much  as  at 
Easter.  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  plants 
are  delivered  on  the  Friday  and  Sat- 
urday, and  must  be  at  their  best  on 
Easter  morning.  If  a  batch  of  flower- 
ing plants  are  at  their  best  one  week 
ahead  of  time,  they  will  be  very  un- 
satisfactory to  your  customers,  and  if 
a  few  days  too  late  it  is  often  nearly  a 
total  loss.  Many  of  us  can  remember 
having  some  hundreds  of  lilies  that 
would  have  sold  for  one  dollar  each 
on  Easter  morning,  or  rather  the  day 
before,  had  they  each  two  or  three 
flowers  open,  but  were  sold  the  fol- 
lowing week  at  10  cents  a  stalk,  and 
the  same  with  other  plants.  The  quan- 
tity grown  for  Easter,  if  attractive, 
would  'bring  a  good  price,  but  if  late 
the  supply  is  ten  times  in  excess  of 
the  demand,  the  day  is  over,  and  they 


many  more  will  be  added  to  the  calen- 
dar. 

Life  is  a  continuous  holiday  to  some 
and  endless  and  hopeless  drudgery  to 
others.  This  is  all  wrong  and  was 
never  ordained  so.  We  have  only  re- 
cently (for  five  centuries  is  but  a 
speck  in  the  history  of  man)  emerged 
from  the  feudal  system,  and  but  yes- 
terday emancipated  millions  of  slaves. 
Hopeless  starvation  wages  is  also 
slavery  with  a  tincture  of  uncertainty 
added  to  its  bitterness.  The  "white 
man's  burden"  is  not  so  much  the 
care  of  millions  of  a  race  or  races 
who  never  yet  have  evolved  to  a  high 
state  of  civilization  and  are  still  happy 
in  their  primitive  life.  The  great  bur- 
den of  all  of  us  is  to  bring  about  a 
better  and  happier  condition  of  the 
fellow  being  whom  we  meet  and  see 


Lilies,  in  celluloid  basket  trimmed  with  white  ribbon. 


Hydrangea,  trimmed  with  crepe  paper. 


1  EASTER  PLANTS. 

Easter  day  is  undoubtedly  the  great- 
est floral  festival  of  the  entire  year. 
For  many  years  it  has  been  the  cus- 
tom to  trim  and  decorate  our  churches 
of  all  denominations  with  plants  and 
flowers,  but,  apart  from  that,  it  is  the 
custom  now  to  give  and  receive  from 
friends  a  pretty  plant  or  box  of  flow- 
ers. The  Easter  card  is  gone  and  a 
plant  has  taken  its  place.  It  is  the 
day  on  which  thousands  visit  the 
cemeteries,  perhaps  the  first  visit  of 
the  spring  to  the  resting  place  of  the 
departed,  that  for  months  has  been 
covered  with  snow.  So  several  causes 
tend  to  make  this  a  busy  time  with 
the  florist,  but  the  most  commendable 
fashion  of  remembering  friends  near 
and  even  distant  with  a  pretty  flower- 
ing plant  and  Easter  greeting  sur- 
passes all  othor  demands  for  flowers 
and  plants,  and  I  see  no  reason  why 
this  virtuous  practice  should  ever 
drop  from  public  favor. 

There  is  no  other  occasion  when 
plants  and  flowers  must  be  just  right, 


are  given  away.  Another  feature  of 
the  Easter  trade  is  the  fact  that  it  is  a 
movable  festival  and  occurs  any  time 
during  the  month  of  April,  and  we 
have  seen  Easter  Sunday  a  day  of  ice 
and  snow,  and  again  on  the  25th  of 
April  I  remember  having  nights  of  70 
degrees  and  fanning  ourselves  on  the 
veranda. 

To  digress  a  moment.  Why  can't 
Easter  Sunday  be  fixed  for  a  certain 
date,  say  the  second  Sunday  in  April? 
In  these  days  of  common  sense  this 
ought  to  be  straightened  out.  Easter 
Sunday  and  the  days  preceding  it  are 
supposed  to  commemorate  events  of 
solemn  moment  to  sincere  Christians, 
but  as  the  moon,  or  the  tide,  or  some- 
thing else,  dodges  these  anniversaries 
all  over  the  month  of  April,  how  can 
they  have -any  significance?  We  be- 
lieve that  ages  after  the  events  that 
gave  rise  to  Easter  and  Good  Friday 
are  lost  in  oblivion,  there  will  still 
be  holidays  kept,  and  let  us  hope  that 
in  the  coming  century  the  date  will 
be  fixed  for  that  holiday  and  that 


every  day.  Although  in  a  wretchedly 
imperfect  state  as  yet,  a  better  time 
on  earth  for  every  man,  woman  and 
child  must  surely  come.  And  then 
there  will  be  more  holidays  for  all. 
"Man's  inhumanity  to  man  makes 
countless  thousands  mourn,"  but  ev- 
ery age  brings  more  humanity,  and 
justice  and  right  will  follow  and 
equality  for  all  must  come. 

I  consider  the  ability  to  get  in  crops 
just  when  the  market  is  ready  lor 
them  quite  equal  to  that  which  pro- 
duces the  plants  and  flowers,  and  at 
Easter  time  is  when  you  want  to 
exercise  that  particular  line  of  ability 
to  the  greatest  extent.  It  will  tax 
your  knowledge  and  experience,  how- 
ever great  they  are.  Not  only  is  the 
day  of  the  month  variable  by  two  or 
three  weeks,  but  the  weather  also  iss 
never  two  seasons  alike.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  it  is  better  to  be  what  is 
called  on  the  safe  side — that  is,  have 
your  plants  a  little  early,  or  have 
them  rather  backward,  so  that  they 
will  improve  from  the  day  they  are 
delivered.  Of  course,  the  ideal  is  to 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


77 


have  them  in  their  best  appearance 
on  Easter  Sunday.  If  people  wanted 
these  plants  for  their  own  conserva- 
tory or  house,  then  a  lily  with  one 
flower  open  and  four  or  five  buds 
would  suit  the  great  majority.  They 
ask  for  a  lily  or  azalea  "not  so  much 
blowed  out."  But  90  per  cent  of  all 
the  plants  bought  are  sent  as  pres- 
ents, and  a  good  showy  appearance  is 
demanded,  and  for  church  decorations 
it  is  entirely  appearance  and  effect 
that  is  wanted;  however  well  grown 
a  plant  may  be,  it  is  not  wanted  un- 
less well  in  flower.  I  may  add  here 
that  flowering  plants  greatly  predomi- 
nate at  Easter.  Occasionally  Mr. 
Goodman  buys  a  seven  or  ten-dollar 
palm  for  his  dear,  plump  little  ducky, 
but  that  stops  in  the  family,  and  the 
vast  majority  of  plants  sent  as  pres- 
ents must  be  flowering.  It  is  a  cheer- 
ful morning  with  all  Christendom  and 
flowers  are  the  thing  to  add  to  its 
joys. 

We  find  a  novelty  goes  well  to  a 
limited  extent,  but  they  must  have 
some  good  merit  to  take  well,  and 
you  had  better  try  them  in  moderate 
quantity  the  first  year.  Wealthy  com- 
munities in  our  very  large  cities  will 
purchase  a  basket  or  collection  of 
plants  put  up  in  a  fancy  basket  and 
decorated  with  ribbon.  In  this  ar- 
rangement there  would  be  no  end  to 
the  varied  combinations  to  tempt  the 
corpulent  purse.  These  baskets  of 
plants  are  sold  for  ten,  fifteen  or  even 
twenty-five  dollars,  and  are  works  of 
art,  but  they  have  not  yet  reached  the 
general  trade.  We  find  a  few  custom- 
ers willing  to  spend  ten  or  fifteen 
dollars  on  a  single  plant,  a  great 
many  willing  to  purchase  a  five-dollar 
azalea,  but  a  far  greater  number 
whose  limit  is  two  dollars.  Then  there 
is  the  school  child,  or  the  poor  per- 
son, who  want  to  make  their  window 
bright  and  who  can  hardly  afford 
twenty-five  cents  for  a  hyacinth.  Our 
trade  is  made  up  of  all  these  classes, 
and  if  you  do  a  general  retail  trade, 
you  must  cater  to  all  of  them,  and  be 
just  as  pleasant  and  attentive  to  the 
delegation  of  little  girls  who  have 
clubbed  together  to  buy  taeir  school 
teacher  a  fifty-cent  plant  as  to  the 
millionaire  who  orders  a  dozen  Beau- 
ties at  eighteen  dollars  per  dozen.  A 
little  different  manner,  you  know,  but 
just  as  attentive. 

The  delivery  of  plants  at  Easter, 
should  the  weather  be  cold,  as  it  too 
often  is,  makes  it  the  most  trying  day 
of  the  whole  year.  At  Christmas  we 
are  prepared  for  cold  weather  and  ex- 
pect it,  and  most  of  the  trade  then  is 
cut  flowers,  which  are  easily  and  safe- 
ly delivered  in  boxes,  and  the  plants 
are  carefully  and  securely  wrapped; 
but  we  never  know  till  dawn  breaks 
what  kind  of  a  day  it  is  going  to  be 
on  the  Friday  or  Saturday  before 
Easter.  A  cold  Saturday  is  a  great 
loss  to  our  trade,  not  only  in  the 
great  expense  of  wrapping  and  deliv- 
ery, and  breakage  of  our  plants,  but 
we  miss  hundreds  of  sales  that  never 
come  again.  A  man  may  put  off  buy- 


Easter  Lilies,  dressed  with  pink  ribbon  and  Asparagus. 


ing  a  hat  or  gloves  this  Saturday,  but 
he  will  get  them  sure  soon,  because 
he  needs  them;  but  if  his  coat  is 
turned  up  and  fingers  cold,  he  is  think- 
ing more  about  a  cocktail  and  forgets 
that  his  wife  told  him  to  buy  a  plant 
and  send  to  her  friend,  Mrs.  Expect- 
ant. In  many  ways  a  cold  time  at 
Easter'  is  a  calamity  to  us. 

Great  rush  as  it  is,  much  can  be 
done  by  organizing  your  force.  Men 
or  women  that  make  sales  should  not 
be  expected  to  wrap  up  the  plant.  If 
the  address  and  card  is  handed  to  the 
delivery  department,  that's  all  that 
should  be  expected  of  the  salesman, 
and  the  cash  or  charge  handed  to  the 
gentleman  who  presides  at  the  desk. 
The  man  who  makes  change  and  slaps 
the  charges  on  file  is  not  so  busy  but 
what  he  can  keep  an  eye  on  what  is 
going  on;  like  a  man  who  looks  on  at 
a  game  of  cards,  he  can  see  the  right 
card  to  play  better  than  the  partici- 
pant, and  he  can  notice  whether  a 
clerk  by  mistake  (?)  drops  $1.75  into 
his  own  pocket  instead  of  the  till,  or 
whether  that  azalea  that  Mrs.  Smith 


so  kindly  said  she  would  carry  out  to 
her  carriage  herself  was  paid  for  or 
charged.  If  we  had  an  Easter  Satur- 
day every  week,  we  should  be  able  to 
keep  trained  help  to  manage  it,  but 
we  have  not,  and  it  is  a  trying  time, 
and  a  time  above  all  to  keep  cool.  It 
is  a  busy  time,  and  your  customers 
see,  and  all  sensible  ones  will  make 
allowance  for  a  short  but  civil  an- 
swer, and  it  is  all  they  can  get.  Woe 
betide  the  fool  of  a  man  or  woman 
clerk  who  wants  to  chin  and  chat  and 
be  funny  and  extra  affable  to  the  cus- 
tomers on  these  crowded,  busy  days; 
turn  the  hose  on  them  if  practicable. 
We  have  found  that  in  the  green- 
house, where  many  of  us  do  our  big- 
gest Easter  trade,  much  confusion  can 
be  saved  by  devoting  a  good  big  bench 
in  a  house  adjacent  to  the  door  where 
the  wagons  are  loaded  to  the  plants 
that  are  bought  ahead  of  time,  as 
many  are.  We  make  room  on  the 
bench  and  cover  it  with  strong,  thick 
paper  so  that  the  pots  when  washed 
won't  get  mussed  up  again  with  sand 
or  ashes.  Thursday  begins  the  deliv- 


78 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ering.  Customers  often  say  when  buy- 
ing a  plant:  "You  can  send  it  home 
Thursday  or  Friday,"  or  another  will 
say:  "Saturday  or  Sunday  morning, 
whichever  you  choose."  Always  choose 
the  earliest  moment  they  allow.  You 
are  sure  to  have  plenty  for  the  last. 
So  on  that  part  of  the  bench  nearest 
the  door  is  all  of  Thursday's  deliver- 
ies, the  card  of  the  donor  fastened  on 
with  baby  ribbon  and  the  address  very 
lightly  fastened  on  with  wire.  It  is 
not  safe  to  fasten  that  address  card  on 
securely  till  you  see  the  weather,  as 


know  the  city  well  and  also  know  a 
great  many  of  the  residents.  Never 
send  a  load  of  twenty  or  thirty  differ- 
ent deliveries  with  one  man.  It  is 
waste  of  time.  The  driver  knows  the 
route  to  save  time,  and  the  house  in 
most  cases,  and  tells  his  helper  that, 
"Here  is  Mrs.  Brown's,  who  gets  that 
lily  and  that  deutzia,"  and  while  the 
less  valuable  man  is  waiting  for  Mary 
Ann  or  Kate  to  receive  the  plants  the 
driver  is  studying  out  his  next  call. 
Drivers,  or  delivery  men  are  just  like 
those  of  any  other  calling;  there  are 


Azalea,  dressed  with  crepe  paper  and  lace  ribbon. 


it  may  have  to  be  pinned  on  to  the 
wrapping  paper  that  protects  the  plant 
1'rom  chilly  blasts.  When  Thursday 
night  comes  all  of  Thursday's  deliver- 
ies should  be  gone,  the  space  devoted 
to  Thursday  should  be  clear,  and  so 
with  the  other  days.  Friday's  orders 
should  be  looked  out  and  got  ready 
on  Thursday  and  what  is  sold  on  Fri- 
day to  be  delivered  that  day  should 
be  put  on  the  table  to  go  out  with  the 
next  load.  As  long  as  plants  are  on 
that  Friday  bench  your  wagons  have 
not  done  for  the  day. 

The  delivery  man  is  a  very  impor- 
tant personage  these  days.   He  should 


good  and  bad,  but  a  good  one  is  a 
jewel.  Only  smile  at  calamities  that 
can't  be  helped,  such  as  hailstorms  or 
cyclones,  but  swear  to  your  heart's 
content  at  the  lubber  who  comes  home 
with  damaged  plants  and  says,  "The 
lilies  blowed  over  and  I  let  that  big 
azalea  fall." 

There  is  always  a  great  number  of 
plants  that  you  are  reasonably  sure 
you  will  sell,  and  these  should  all  have 
their  pots  washed  a  day  or  two  ahead. 
Nothing  can  be  more  disgusting  than 
a  greasy,  dirty  pot,  and  no  plant 
should  be  delivered,  however  cheap,  or 


warm  the  weather,  without  some  wrap- 
ping paper  around  the  pot. 

The  lily  certainly  occupies  the  most 
important  place  among  Easter  plants. 
The  Bermuda  grown  longiflorum  is 
the  favorite;  a  single  plant  in  a  5  or 
6-inch  pot  or  three  plants  in  an  8- 
inch.  It  is  seldom  that  the  longiflo- 
rums  are  too  early,  and  should  they 
be  a  week  or  ten  days  ahead  of  time 
they  keep  finely  in  a  cool,  shaded 
house,  but  should  not  be  put  there  till 
at  least  one  flower  is  open  or  the 
whole  plant  and  buds  will  get  stunted. 

Azaleas  are  next  in  importance  and 
perhaps  in  value  of  plants  sold  equal 
the  lilies.  There  is  no  excuse  for  hav- 
ing the  azaleas  out  of  date  because 
they  can  be  kept  almost  to  the  freez- 
ing point  during  winter  and  open 
quickly  when  put  into  a  heat  of  60 
degrees  at  night.  There  is  always  a 
good  demand  for  azaleas  from  Christ- 
mas on,  but  don't  have  many  left 
after  Easter,  for  people  have  seen  so 
many  then  that  they  are  tired  of  them. 

Rhododendrons  are  seldom  too  early 
and  you  do  not  want  many  of  them. 
A  warm  house  with  abundance  of 
syringing  will  bring  their  fine  flowers 
out. 

The  Ghent  or  hardy  deciduous  aza- 
laas  want  seven  or  eight  weeks  in  a 
moderately  warm  house.  They  are 
very  attractive  and  do  not  drop  their 
flowers  at  Easter  as  they  do  later  in 
warmer  weather,  and  the  colors  are 
such  beautiful  shades  of  yellow,  or- 
ange, red  and  pink  that  when  deco- 
rated with  suitable  crepe  paper  they 
sold  well  last  year. 

Lilacs  need  about  four  weeks  in  the 
greenhouse  and  always  sell  well,  and 
are  so  good  for  cutting  if  not  sold. 

Metrosideros  (bottle  brush)  is  very 
odd  and  finds  favor  with  a  few,  but 
the  sale  is  limited.  It  should  be  al- 
ways grown  one  year  with  us  before 
being  sold. 

Acacia  armata,  called  often  Mimosa 
paradoxa,  is  a  beautiful  plant,  but 
should  not  be  offered  for  sale  the  sea- 
son that  it  is  imported.  Cut  down 
and  grown  in  pots  during  the  summer 
it  makes  a  beautiful  plant  the  follow- 
ing winter  or  spring.  It  will  be  too 
early  for  Easter  unless  kept  very  cool. 
A.  Drummondii  is  also  very  pretty  and 
can  be  treated  the  same  way. 

Deutzia  gracilis  is  most  easy  to 
force  and  should  be  given  seven  to 
eight  weeks  in  the  greenhouse. 

Cytisus,  although  a  poor  house 
plant,  is  so  floriferous  and  makes  such 
a  compact,  pretty  plant  that  it  is  al- 
ways worth  growing.  Keep  very  cool 
or  they  will  be  over  too  early. 

Spiraea  (astilbe)  is  always  wanted 
for  church  decoration,  and  when  peo- 
ple learn  that  a  spiraea  should  always 
be  stood  in  a  saucer  with  an  inch  of 
water  in  it,  they  will  find  it  a  long- 
lasting  house  plant. 

Mignonette  in  4  and  5-inch  pots  sell 
well  and  should  command  a  good 
price,  as  it  takes  six  or  seven  months 
to  grow  a  good  pot.  They  can't  be 
forced;  they  must  come  along  slowly 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


79 


with  a1  strong,  sturdy  growth  .in  a 
cool  house. 

Lily  of  the  valley  in  pots  and  pans 
sells  well. 

If  made  up  out  of  a  bed  when  in 
full  bloom  they  are  just  as  lasting  as 
if  grown  in  the  pot  and  a  much  finer 
show  can  be  made.  It  is  just  water 
they  live  on. 

The  old  Dutch  hyacinth  always  will 
be  a  favorite  with  many  people.  We 
believe  only  good  bulbs  should  be 
used  for  this  purpose.  They  are  grown 
singly  in  a  4-inch  pot,  and  in  groups 
of  three  or  more.  A  10  or  12-inch  pan 
containing  a  dozen  grand  spikes  of 
one  variety  of  hyacinths  and  trimmed 
with  the  right  shade  of  paper  is  a 
rich  affair  and  attracts  the  well-to-do. 

Tulips  and  daffodils  are  grown  in  6, 
7  and  8-inch  pans  and  find  a  ready 
sale  because  they  are  inexpensive. 

Roses  there  is  always  a  demand  for, 
especially  hybrid  perpetuals.  Plants 
that  are  lifted  from  your  own  grounds 
after  the  wood  is  ripe  and  carefully 
and  gradually  brought  along,  need 
from  ten  to  twelve  weeks  in  the  green- 
house. The  best  pot  roses  I  have  ever 
seen  of  this  class  were  a  lot  of  Amer- 
ican Beauty  that  had  grown  on  a 
bench  the  previous  summer,  slightly 
dried  off  during  October  and  lifted 
during  November,  potted  into  6-inch 


Easter  Plant  Arrangements. 

pots  and  kept  in  a  cold  pit  away  from 
severe  freezing  till  middle  of  January, 
when  they  were  brought  in  and  start- 
ed very  cool.  By  Easter,  which  was 
then  in  about  eleven  weeks,  they  were 
a  great  sight:  Five  or  six  good 
blooms  on  18-inch  stems,  with  lots  of 
buds  to  come.  They  outsold  anything 
we  had  and  would  have  been  a  splen- 
did paying  crop  had  we  not  cut  a  rose 
the  previous  summer. 

The  Crimson  Rambler  is,  and  per- 
haps the  other  ramblers  will  become, 
a  standard  Easter  plant.  Our  experi- 
ence is  that  if  the  plants  are  lifted 
from  the  ground  the  previous  fall  they 
must  be  brought  along  very  carefully 
and  slowly,  so  you  must  allow  thir- 
teen or  fourteen  weeks  under  glass, 
the  first  half  of  which  they  must  be 
cool.  If  the  plants  have  made  their 
growth  the  previous  summer  in  pots 
the  wood  will  be  better  ripened  and 
the  roots  not  being  disturbed  they  can 
be  given  more  heat  at  the  start  so 
that  ten  weeks  in  the  houses  will  do. 

The  white  Marguerite,  if  well 
pinched  in  the  field  and  kept  cool 
during  winter,  makes  a  grand  plant 
for  church  decorations.  It  is  truly 
decorative  and  is  one  of  the  very  best 
house  plants  known,  blooming  and 
flourishing  in  the  dry  air  of  a  room  for 
weeks. 


Hardy  shrubs  of  many  kinds  are  oc- 
casionally tried  as  Easter  plants,  the 
snowball  (viburnum)  particularly,  but 
we  have  not  found  people  willing  to 
pay  for  cost  of  room  they  have  occu- 
pied. 

Don't  forget  the  25  and  50-cent  cus- 
tomers. A  good  4-inch  zonal  gera- 
nium, a  hyacinth  or  a  6-inch  pan  of 
pansies  fills  the  bill. 

There  is  a  small  and  select  demand 
for  a  pot  of  violets.  If  the  spring  is 
mild  and  early  you  can  get  them  from 
the  cold-frame  two  or  three  weeks  be- 
fore selling  time,  but  if  the  season  is 
backward  lift  from  the  beds  the  plants 
that  show  the  most  buds  and  only  lift 
them  a  week  or  two  before  you  want 
them.  I  may  have  missed  some  plants 
that  many  readers  grow  in  their  lo- 
cality, but  remember  that  if  I  have 
failed  to  notice  them  here  I  have  un- 
der their  alphabetical  order  given 
them  due  notice  if  in  my  opinion  they 
are  worth  growing  especially  as  an 
Easter  plant. 

It  is  always  well  to  be  supplied  with 
a  stock  of  moderate  sized  palms,  pan- 
danus,  ficus,  dracaenas,  ferns  and 
ferneries,  but  these  plants  are  of  value 
the  year  round  and  do  not  need  any 
special  mention  here. 

Don't  think  you  can  bring  in  a  lot 
of  lilies  or  azaleas  in  the  fall  and  by 


80 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Easter  Plants. 


giving  them  a  certain  temperature 
have  them  in  good  order  for  Easter. 
Plants  in  the  same  batch  treated  just 
the  same  will  be  a  month  later  or 
earlier  than  others.  They  must  be 
moved  as  their  condition  requires.  I 
think  one  winter  some  years  ago  that 
I  moved  my  Harrisii  at  least  six 
times,  every  plant,  and  many  of  them 
a  dozen  times,  but  it  paid,  for  out  of 
1,500  plants  I  don't  believe  there  were 
ten  that  did  not  open  precisely  a  few 
days  before  Easter.  It  can  be  done, 
but  not  without  thought,  earnest 
thought,  and  active  work. 

EPACRIS. 

These  beautiful  heath-like  plants 
are  not  much  seen  in  our  green- 
houses, although  much  grown  as  a 
winter  and  spring  flowering  plant  in 
the  gardens  of  Europe.  The  same 
general  treatment  as  that  given  the 
ericas  will  suit  them.  Good  peat  (not 
fern  root)  if  it  can  be  procured  is 
what  they  like.  In  its  absence  half 
turfy  loam  and  half  leaf-mould  will 
do.  For  propagation  refer  to  Erica. 

Most  of  the  species  are  from  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zealand,  but  the  hy- 
brids from  these  species  are  the  most 
valuable.  The  colors  are  .  mostly 
white,  pink  and  red  of  many  shades. 

Plants  that  have  flowered  should 
have  the  last  year's  growth  cut  down 
to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  older 
wood,  and  till  the  young  growth  gets 
a  good  start  the  plants  should  be  kept 
syringed  and  away  from  draughts. 
They  make  a  growth  of  several  stems 
one  to  two  feet  long,  which  give  you 
the  flowers  the  following  winter. 
When  the  growth  is  matured  the 
plants  can  be  plunged  outside  for  a 


month  or  two,  but  are  best  in  partial 
shade. 

Till  flowering  time  a  temperature 
of  40  to  45  degrees  at  night  will  do 
very  well.  Like  the  heaths  they  dis- 
like extremes  of  moisture,  but  if  prop- 
erly drained  will  take  plenty  of  water, 
and  must  at  no  time  be  allowed  to  get 
very  dry. 

Although  not  often  seen  the  epacris 
is  a  beautiful  and  aristocratic  green- 
house plant  and  whoever  can  grow 
heaths  should  grow  epacris.  They  are 
seldom  troubled  with  any  of  our 
greenhouse  pests  of  any  kind. 


ERICA. 

This  is  a  large  genus  of  hard-wooded 
evergreen  shrubs,  often  called  Cape 
Heaths  because  they  are  largely  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Few  green- 
house plants  are  finer  as  specimens 
than  a  hard-wooded  heath.  A  plant  of 
E.  Cavendishianum,  covered  with  its 
large,  waxy,  yellow  flowers,  the  plant 
tied  out  most  neatly,  I  can  remember 
to  this  day,  although  many  years  since 
I  had  the  honor  to  paint  the  hand- 
made wooden  labels  for  naming  some 
of  the  plants  in  the  heath  house. 

Heaths  have  small  leaves  and  are 
slow  growers.  The  flowers  are  some- 
times terminal  and  sometimes  axil- 
lary. The  hard-wood  section  is  sel- 
dom seen  except  in  a  private  co'lec- 
tion.  They  want  most  skillful  water- 
ing the  year  round,  good  drainage  and 
nothing  like  a  sodden  soil,  but  must 
never  be  very  dry.  They  do  not  like 
fire  heat,  and  a  greenhouse  where  the 
night  temperature  is  not  over  40  de- 
grees will  do  very  well. 

After  they  have  made  their  growth 
in  the  spring  they  would  be  best  out  of 
doors,  but  shaded  with  lattice  work 
from  the  strongest  sun.  A  good  peat 
and  loam  compost  suits  them  best, 
and  they  should  be  potted  firmly.  But 
in  the  absence  of  peat  a  good  fibrous 
loam  with  a  third  of  leaf  mould  and 
some  sand  will  do  very  well.  The 
hard-wooded,  slow-growing  hraths  are 
never  likely  to  become  of  importance 
with  the  commercial  florist.  They  are 
troubled  with  none  of  our  greenhouse 
pests. 

The  soft-wooded,  quicker  growing 
section  is  now  largely  grown  as  a  mar- 
ket plant  for  our  eastern  cities,  and 
large  quantises  are  raised  on  Long 
Island,  where  the  fine  loam  found  in 
many  parts  of  the  island  suits  it  finely- 
It  is  generally  believed  that  the  order 
Ericacea,  which  includes  the  azaleas, 


Erica  and  Epacris,  in  fancy  basket  and  silver  jardinieres. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Erica,  in  celluloid  basket  dressed  with  red  ribbon. 


rhododendrons  and  kalmias,  is  much 
averse  to  lime  in  either  the  soil  or 
water,  and  this  should  be  remembered. 

They  are  propagated  by  cuttings 
from  the  tips  of  the  young  growths  in 
•spring.  They  do  not  warn,  bottom 
heat,  but  should  be  put  in  well-drained 
flats  or  pans  with  a  layer  of  light  loam 
and  leaf-mould,  and  on  the  surface  an 
inch  of  clean  sand.  They  should  be 
kept  rather  close,  away  from  draughts 
or  too  much  ventilation.  Give  them  a 
good  soaking  when  first  put  in.  If  the 
cuttings  are  1  or  1%  inches  long  of  the 
young,  tender  growth  stripped  of  the 
bottom  leaves  they  will  root  in  seven 
or  eight  weeks.  As  they  show  signs  of 
growth  give  them  more  air.  Don't  pot 
off  till  they  are  well  rooted,  and  keep 
them  only  just  moist  till  they  are 
rooted. 

The  young  plants  will  do  very  well 
in  a  cold-frame  during  the  fall  months 
and  in  a  cool,  dry  house  during  win- 
ter. In  May  they  can  be  planted  out  in 
the  open  ground,  where  they  will  make 


a  good  growth,  and  must  be  lifted  in 
September  or  October.  When  first  lift- 
ed and  potted  be  careful  not  to  let 
them  wilt.  Careful  lifting,  to  get  all 
their  roots  and  fibres,  is  the  essential 
object.  They  will  do  finely  in  a  tem- 
perature of  40  degrees,  but  will  do 
with  more  heat  as  their  flowering  time 
approaches. 

Two-year-old  plants  that  are  unsold 
should  be  cut  down  to  within  a  few 
inches  of  the  pot  after  flowering  and 
again  planted  out.  The  young  plants 
will  need  stopping  when  they  first  be- 
gin to  root,  and  perhaps  again  when 
planted  out,  but  not  after  that. 

Some  of  the  best  ericas  for  florists 
are  B.  caffra  (small  flower,  but  very 
free),  E.  gracilis,  E.  hybrida,  E.  hyem- 
alis  (a  beautiful  pink  that  flowers  in 
early  spring;  one  of  the  best),  E.  mel- 
anthera  (flowers  in  winter),  E.  perso- 
luta  (May),  E.  ventricosa,  E.  Wil- 
moreana  (spring;  a  grand  hybrid).  All 
of  these  are  fine  commercial  kinds. 


ERIOSTEMON. 

This  beautiful  plant  belongs  to  that 
class  of  Australian  shrubs  that  for 
years  were  called  New  Holland  plants, 
of  which  the  pimelia  is  another  well- 
known  member,  and  there  are  many 
more.  With  us  they  are  seldom  seen 
in  commercial  places,  but  they  are 
fine,  interesting  plants  and  are  not  dif- 
ficult to  grow.  In  Europe  the  long 
sprays  of  eriostemon  are  much  valued 
for  cut  flowers,  but  with  us  that  would 
not  pay. 

The  leaves  are  small,  and  the  flow- 
ers, which  are  mostly  white  and  pink, 
are  borne  in  great  profusion.  All  the 
species  flower  in  March,  April,  May  or 
June.  As  small  plants  they  are  not 
atttractive,  but  when  of  a  good  size, 
and  slightly  trained  to  stakes,  they  are 
fine  ornamental  plants^  Like  most 
hard-wooded  shrubs,  they  root  freely 
from  the  young  growths  in  spring. 

Though  coming  from  Australia  these 
shrubs  want  by  no  means  a  tropical 
temperature.  They  are  much  the  best 
plunged  out  of  doors  in  summer,  and 
in  the  winter  40  to  45  degrees  will  suit 
them.  As  with  the  acacia,  metrosid- 
sros,  pimelia  and  all  that  class,  a 
good  turfy  loam  with  some  rotten 
manure  or  leaf-mould  will  grow  them. 
As  they  will  remain  several  years  in 
the  same  po;t  they  sihlould  be  well 
drained. 

There  are  many  species,  and  Nicho'- 
son  selects  the  following  as  being  the 
most  desirable:  E.  buxifolius,  pink, 
April  to  June;  E.  intermedius,  white 
and  pink,  April;  E.  neriifolius,  rose, 
April;  E.  salicifolius,  pink,  June;  E. 
scaber,  white  tinged  pink,  April  and 
May. 

EUCHARIS. 

Hot-house  evergreen  bulbs  bearing 
beautiful,  fragrant  flowers,  which 
either  cut  as  stalks  bearing  four  or 
five  flowers  or  as  single  flowers,  are 
invaluable  to  the  florist.  Their  white, 
star-shaped,  elegant  flowers  are  ad- 
mired by  all,  but  are  not  seen  in  quan- 
tity,~  as  they  should  be.  In  Europe 
they  figure  most  prominently  in  all  the 
cut  flower  markets,  but  in  this  country 
I  have  not  heard  of  their  being  grown 
systematically  in  large  quantities  any- 


H,  D,  DARLINGTON, 

FLUSHING,  N.  Y. 
The  largest  grower  of 

ERICAS  in  America. 

Varieties— Gracilis,  Melanthera,  Fersoluta, 
Wilmoreana,  Mediterranea,  Regrerminans, 
etc.  In  Bud  or  Flower.  Prices  reason- 
able. Satisfaction  guaranteed. 

3,  4.  5.  6,  7,  8  and  10-inch  pots. 

We  also  grow  an  abundance  of  hard-wooded 
stock,  including  Epacris,  Boronias,  Dios- 
mas  and  Acacias. 

pp*-  Write  us  for  particulars. 


82 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


where,  and  I  believe  there  is  a  great 
opportunity  for  their  cultivation,  for 
as  long  as  designs  of  flowers  are  used 
(and  they  will  always  be  to  some  ex- 
tent) there  is  no  flower  more  beautiful 
for  the  purpose  than  the  eucharis. 
There  is  scarcely  a  plant  grown  of 


needed  at  all  times;  60  to  65  degrees  Is 
the  lowest  they  should  be  at  any  time. 
Disturbing  of  the  bulbs  and  roots  must 
be  avoided  or  you  will  not  get  flowers. 
If  established  in  a  pot,  from  8  to  12- 
inch,  or  on  a  bench  in  6  inches  of 
good  soil,  feed  them  when  maKing 


which  you  hear  so  often  the  same  re- 
mark made,  and  it  is  this:  "Yes,  a 
grand  plant.  I  wish  I  knew  how  to 
make  it  flower."  Or,  "I  don't  have  any 
luck  with  it.  It  grows,  but  don't 
flower." 

There  are  several  species,  all  want- 
ing the  same  treatment.  E.  grandi- 
flora,  so  generally  called  amazonica,  is 
the  fine  species  we  all  know,  bearing 
an  umbel  of  four  to  six  flowers  four 
to  five  inches  across  on  stout,  erect 
stems  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet  high. 
E.  Sanderiana  is  somewhat  smaller 
and  the  throat  or  tube  of  the  flower  is 
yellow.  E.  Candida  is  also  pure  white, 
bearing  seven  to  ten  flowers  on  one 
stalk,  but  not  as  large  a  flower  as 
amazonica.  I  would  advise  the  begin- 
ner to  try  the  cultivation  of  the  latter, 
as  it  is  the  handsomest  of  all. 

Good  authorities  say  the  eucharis 
should  have  an  abundance  of  water  at 
all  times.  South  American  travelers 
and  collectors  have  also  told  me  that 
they  have  walked  over  arid  plains  in 
the  dry  season  with  scarcely  a  sign  of 
vegetation  and  returned  in  six  months 
over  the  same  ground  and  found  it 
covered  with  the  leaves  and  flowers  of 
eucharis,  a  gorgeous  sight.  This  does 
not  agree,  and  we  have  seen  the  bulbs 
dried  off  considerably,  and  when  pot- 
ted up  send  up  flower  stalks.  But 
drying  off  as  you  would  a  hyacinth  or 
tulip  is  certainly  not  advisable  or  any- 
thing approaching  it. 

The  bulbs  multiply  readily  by  send- 
ing out  offshoots,  and  when  once  you 
have  a  few  healthy  plants  your  stock 
is  easily  increased.  As  the  plant  is 
from  New  Granada,  a  warm  house  is 


cow  manure.  As  the  soil  is  to  remain 
undisturbed  for  several  years,  add  a 
tenth  of  broken  up  charcoal  to  the 
compost;  it  will  help  to  keep  the  soil 
porous.  If  you  receive  the  bulbs  dor- 
mant, plant  tnree  in  an  8-inch  pot  or 
five  in  a  10-inch,  the  top  of  bulb  two 
inches  below  the  surface.  If  on  a 
bench,  plant  six  inches  apart  in  tne 
row  and  the  rows  eight  inches  apart. 

The  principal  object  to  observe  is 
this:  Supposing  an  established  plant 
has  been  growing  freely  for  two 
months  and  making  a  fine  lot  of 
leaves.  If  you  continue  giving  it  water 
free'y  it  will  continue  to  make  its 
handsome  leaves  and  no  flowers,  but 
if  you  shorten  up  the  supply  of  water 
and  keep  the  plants  rather  dry  (not  by 
any  means  dry  enough  to  show  any 
effects  on  the  leaf),  then  flower  leads 
will  be  formed  in  the  bulb  instead  of 
leaves,  and  after  a  rest  of  two  months 
apply  again  an  abundance  of  water 
and  up  will  come  the  flower  stalks. 
After  flowering  give  them  only  a  very 
short  rest  and  top  dress  and  start 
again  for  another  two  or  three 
months'  growth.  Remember  that  in 
cultivation,  whatever  their  native  con- 
ditions may  be,  a  rest  is  only  a  lessen- 
ing of  the  water,  not  a  drying  off,  and 
their  foliage  should  not  suffer  at  any 
time. 

We  have  all  heard  English  garden- 
ers say  that  they  could  produce  three 


A  Florist's  Display  at  Easter. 


their  growtn  of  leaves,  but  don't  dis- 
turb the  roots  for  four  or  five  years. 
At  most  times  of  the  year  they  un- 
doubtedly want  lots  of  water,  so  drain- 
age in  the  pot,  and  opportunity  on  the 
bench  for  water  to  pass  freely  away,  is 
of  great  importance. 

The   soil   should   be   a   good    rough 
loam   with  one-fifth  of  well  decayed 


crops  of  flowers  in  twelve  months. 
Possibly  so.  Two  crops  will  do  very 
well.  I  will  just  add  that  two  years 
ago  I  saw  exhibited  at  Toronto's  great 
fair  in  September  a  plant  of-^E.  ama- 
zonica in  an  8-inch  pot  that  had  nine 
flower  stalks  bearing  a  total  of  thirty- 
three  flowers  and  buds,  so  it  can  be, 
done. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


83 


Easter  Basket  of  Lilies,  Azaleas,  Hyacinths  and  Ferns. 


Mealy  bug  often  bothers  the  leaves. 
As  the  plants  want  and  thrive  with 
any  amount  of  syringing,  there  is  little 
excuse  for  that.  Here  is  a  plant  that, 
when  growing,  should  never  be  wa- 
tered with  our  hydrant  water,  which  is 
too  often  near  ice  water.  The  water  in 
winter  should  be  60  degrees  always. 
This,  I  believe,  is  a  valuable  point  in 
their  culture. 

EUPATORIUM. 

A  large  genus  of  herbaceous  or 
shrubby  plants.  A  few  of  them  are 
native,  hardy  plants,  but  not  of  any 
value  to  the  florist,  although  some 
years  ago,  in  the  absence  of  better 
flowers  some  of  the  species  were  large- 
ly grown  to  supply  white  material  for 
designs,  etc. 

The  species  riparium  is  the  most 
valuable  for  the  florist,  but  the  quality 
and  value  of  its  flowers  are  not  suffi- 
cient to  pay  for  the  trouble  and  the 
space  under  glass. 

After  flowering  in  March,  cut  back 
the  stems  and  from  the  young  growths 
make  cuttings,  which  root  most  eas- 
ily. After  frost  is  gone  plant  out  18 
inches  apart.  Pinch  the  shoots^,s  they 
grow  during  summer.  They  grow  free- 
ly in  any  soil.  In  early  October,  or  be- 


fore frost  appears,  lift  with  a  ball  of 
earth  and  plant  on  the  bench  in  six 
inches  of  soil. 

As  before  stated,  the  panicles  of  pure 
white  flowers  would  be  useful  if  we 
did  not  have  ether  flowers  of  more 
beauty.  It  has  not  the  beauty  or  fin- 
ish of  the  bouvardia,  and  occupies  the 
benches  a  long  time. 


EUPHORBIA. 

In  almost  every  private  collection  of 
greenhouse  plants  of  years  ago  you 
would  be  sure  to  see  a  plant  of  E. 
splendens  and  E.  fulgens,  generally 
known  as  E.  Jaquiniaeflora.  The  poin- 
settia  also  belongs  to  the  euphorbias, 
but  it  is  so  generally  known  as  poin- 
settia  that  under  that  name  I  have  de- 
scribed it. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  euphorbias,  at 
least  those  we  grow,  is  that  the  flower 
proper  is  very  inconspicuous,  but  the 
bracts,  scarcely  noticeable  in  many 
flowers,  are  in  the  euphorbias  highly 
developed  both  in  size  and  color,  and 
by  a  casual  observer  the  bracts  are 
mistaken  for  petals. 

E.  splendens  can  be  dismissed  by 
saying  that  it  is  of  no  value  to  the 
commercial  man.  It  is  easily  grown, 
rather  slow  of  growth,  should  be 
stood  out  of  doors  in  the  hottest 
months,  and  needs  a  warm  tempera- 
ture in  winter.  The  stems  are  covered 
with  sharp  thorns.  The  plant  needs 
training  on  stakes  or  a  trellis.  When 
in  flower  its  bright  red  clustered  bracts 
make  the  plant  very  showy.  But  leave 
it  to  the  private  establishment. 

E.  fulgens  is  a  beautiful  plant  and 
twenty  years  ago  was  one  of  our 
standard  winter  flowering  plants, 
thought  then  to  be  indispensable. 
When  baskets  were  made  of  a  variety 
of  flowers,  it  was  a  favorite  with  us 
for  an  edging,  and  it  is  a  rich  looking, 
graceful  flower  wherever  you  use  it. 
They  make  annually  long  growths,  and 
the  flowers,  which  are  orange  scarlet, 
are  placed  close  to  the  stem,  forming 
long,  handsome  wreath-like  flowers. 
Plants  that  have  flowered  during  win- 
ter can  be  cut  up  into  cuttings.  Any- 
thing but  the  old,  hard  wood  will  root. 
If  cut  back  in  April,  young  shoots  will 
start,  which,  of  course,  root  the  quick- 
est. April  and  May  are  good  months 
to  put  in  the  cuttings,  and  keep  them 
wet  and  shaded.  Be  careful  when  pot- 
ting off  to  not  let  them  wilt  from  sun 
or  dryness. 

Grow  on  in  a  warm,  light  house,  and 


Bench  of  Eucharis  Grandiflora. 


84 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


in  July,  plant  them  on  the  bench  in 
four  or  five  inches  of  good,  rich  soil, 
six  to  eight  inches  apart.  In  a  warm, 
unshaded  house  they  will  make  a  good 
growth  during  summer,  and  should  be 
stopped  two  or  three  times  to  produce 
more  shoots.  They  should  not  have  a 
less  temperature  than  60  degrees  at 
night  at  any  time.  If  the  sprays  are 
cut  at  Christinas  they  will  break  and 
give  another  growth  and  flowers  in 
March  and  April. 

Like  the  poinsettia,  they  do  not  like 
their  roots  disturbed.  If  grown  in  pots 
they  can  be  plunged  outside  in  sum- 
mer, but  never  allowed  to  get  too 
much  of  a  soaking  of  water.  No  in- 
sects trouble  them.  Unlike  the  poin- 
settia, the  plants  that  are  two  and 
three  years  old  are  the  most  valuable. 
After  the  flower  is  cut  they  can  be 
lifted  and  stored  away  in  dry  soil  un- 
der a  bench  and  started  growing  again 


Japan,  Persia  and  Syria,  the  Polyne- 
sian Islands,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Na- 
tal, Abyssinia,  Mascerene  Islands,  Ne- 
pal, Simla,  Assam,  and  6,000  feet  up 
on  the  Himalaya  mountains,  in  Thi- 
bet and  Afghanistan;  in  the  United 
States  it  grows  in  North  Carolina  and 
westward  to  Arizona,  and  in  the  Ama- 
zon valley  and  in  the  Cape  de  Verde 
Islands,  as  well  as  the  Azores,  Ma- 
deira, Teneriffe — in  fact,  throughout 
the  world,  except  Australia  and  New 
Zealand.  Many  others  have  almost  as 
wide  a  distribution. 

Those  people  who  may  wonder  and 
conjecture  at  the  closely  allied  species 
of  animal  life  existing  in  countries  far 
removed  from  one  another,  and  be- 
tween which  till  a  very  recent  date 
communication  was  impossible,  need 
not  wonder  at  finding  the  same  species 
of  ferns  in  »many  parts,  because  it 
would  be  quite  possible  for  the  spores 


Prize-winning  Group  of  Ferns. 


in  May  or  June.  Any  good  loam  with 
a  fourth  of  manure  will  grow  them, 
but  it  should  be  of  that  texture  that 
water  will  pass  freely  through.  The 
essentials  are  light,  heat,  plenty  of 
water  when  growing,  and  when  in  leaf 
no  disturbance  of  the  roots. 

FERNS. 

This  large  and  ancient  order  of 
plants  is  known  botanically  as  Filices. 
They  are  found  throughout  the  globe 
in  every  land,  and  what  is  remarkable 
is  that  not  only  is  a  single  genus 
widely  spread  in  many  parts  of  the 
world,  but  a  single  species  is  found  on 
every  continent  and  island  of  the  sea. 
One  instance  will  suffice.  The  well 
known  Adiantum  Capillus-Veneris,  the 
British  Maiden  Hair  fern,  is  found  in 
the  warm  parts  of  England  and  Ire- 
land, and  so  it  is  a  native  of  Central 
and  Southern  Europe.  In  China  and 


to  travel  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands, 
of  miles  by  currents  of  air.  Ferns 
have  no  flowers,  and  that  is  their  great 
distinguishing  mark  from  all  other 
plants  that  are  perennial,  evergreen,  or 
arborescent.  The  order  includes  the 
lowly,  creeping  selaginella  to  the  ma- 
jestic giant,  the  Dicksonia  and  also- 
phila  of  the  Australian  forest.  Ferns 
are  first  of  all  the  most  graceful  of 
plants.  A  few  may  be  called  more 
curious  than  beautiful,  such  as  the 
platycerium  (stag's  horn  fern),  but  all 
are  handsome  and  interesting,  and 
many  so  graceful  that  both  as  orna- 
mental plants  and  cut  fronds  they  are 
now  indispensable,  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  feet  of  glass  are  devoted 
to  their  culture  alone.  This  is  a  branch 
of  our  business  which  cannot  change 
except  to  increase.  The  graceful  ferns 
we  must  have,  whatever  flowers  we 
use.  The  native  ferns  of  our  latitude 


are  mostly  all  deciduous,  but  they 
make  handsome  plants  for  the  rock 
work  or  against  walls  or  fences. 

The  collection  and  storing  for  win- 
ter use  of  the  fronds  of  a  few  species 
of  our  native  ferns  is  now  quite  an 
industry,  and  many  millions  of  fronds 
are  preserved  for  our  winter  demands. 

In  Europe  the  hardy  fernery  is  us- 
ually a  part  of  every  well  regulated 
garden,  and  a  most  interesting  place  it 
is  for  those  who  have  a  cultivated 
taste  for  these  beautiful  plants.  It  is 
not  hazardous  to  say  that  it  is  supe- 
rior minds  that  have  a  taste  or  make 
a  hobby  of  ferns  or  any  other  class  of 
plants.  Retiring  people,  and  perhaps 
considered  cranks  they  may  be,  per- 
haps poor  hands  at  swapping  horses  or 
even  making  money,  careless  in  fash- 
ion and  not  up  in  golf  and  poor  in 
politics,  yet  superior  minds  far  above 
the  common  herd.  Not  those  who  keep 
an  expensive  gardener  and  pride  them- 
selves on  having  the  finest  garden  to 
please  their  friends  or  surpass  their 
neighbor,  but  the  man  or  woman  who 
knows  their  pets,  their  wants,  and 
when  they  are  flourishing  and  happy, 
there  is  where  you  will  find  the  intel- 
ligent, honest  and  contented  individ- 
ual. 

A  hardy  fernery  in  our  latitude 
would  have  to  be  confined  largely  to 
our  .^northern  species;  still,  for  six  or 
seven  months  it  would  be  highly  in- 
teresting. They  are  best  shaded  by 
lofty  trees  and  sunk  some  few  feet 
below  the  surface,  and  cut  out  with 
winding  paths,  with  rocks  and  mounds 
for  the  ferns.  The  cool  as  well  as  the 
tropical  fercery  is  usually  found  in  all 
fine  gardens  of  Great  Britain,  'mere 
may  be  some  here,  but  as  yet  they 
are  not  common,  although  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  their  perfect  suc- 
cess. They  are  usually  sunk  a  few 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  surround- 
ing ground,  simply  to  insure  a  more 
uniform  temperature.  With  a  proper 
selection  and  planting  these  ferneries 
are  most  beautiful  and  interesting. 
When  planted  cut  where  the  roots  en- 
joy a  uniform  degree  of  moisture, 
many  species  display  a  beauty  that  it 
is  impossible  to  produce  in  a  pot. 

All  students  of  ferns  or  those  inter- 
ested in  their  culture,  whether  for 
pleasure  or  profit,  should  most  as- 
suredly avail  themselves  of  that  grand 
work,  "The  Book  of  Choice  Ferns." 
published  by  the  same  firm  as  Nichol- 
son's Dictionary  of  Gardening,  J.  Ar- 
not  Penman,  New  York,  agent.  It  is 
in  seven  handsome  volumes,  most 
comprehensive,  and  in  paper,  type  and 
illustrations  magnificent.  To  it  I  must 
often  refer,  for  no  better  authority  ex- 
ists. The  author  makes  a  classifica- 
tion of  ferns  for  "decorative  purposes" 
which  is  a  guide  to  those  who  are 
seeking  species  for  any  particular  pur- 
pose. 

He  classes  them  as  follows:  1,  Tree 
ferns;  2,  gigantic,  non-aborescent;  3. 
small  growing;  4,  ferns  with  colored 
or  tinted  fronds;  5,  variegated  and 
crested;  6,  gold  and  silver;  7,  climb- 
ing, trailing  and  drooping;  8,  filmy  or 


85 


Adiantum  Farleyensc. 


transparent;    9,   viviparous    or   bulbil 
bearing;  10,  curious  ferns. 

A  selection  of  a  few  from  each  class 
of  the  more  familiar  kinds  v/ill  illus- 
trate the  wisdom  of  the  classification. 

No.  J.    Tree  Ferns. 

Alsophila  australis,  Cyathea  deal- 
bata,  Dicksonia  antarctica,  Lomaria 
Gibba.  Of  these,  Dicksonia  antarctica 
is  the  best  known  and  easiest  to  man- 
age. Cyathea  dealbata  is  a  magnifi- 
cent tree  fern,  large  spreading  head, 
and  under  side  of  the  fronds  silvery. 
Lomaria  is  seldom  seen  of  any  great 
size,  and  alsophila,  although  a  grace- 
ful, quick  growing  fern,  is  very  soft 
and  entirely  unfit  for  commercial  use, 
as  it  suffers  much  in  a  dry  heat  and 
from  neglect  in  watering.  They  can 
all  be  grown  in  large  pots  or  tubs,  or 
planted  out,  where  the  dicksonia  and 
alsophila  attain  a  great  size.  Any  of 
these  will  thrive  in  winter,  when  the 
temperature  does  not  go  below  50  de- 
grees, and  a  few  nights  lower  will  do 
no  harm.  None  of  the  tree  ferns  could 
be  called  commercial  plants,  except 
for  large  and  costly  decorations,  where 
they  would  be  grand  objects. 

No.  2.    Gigantic  Non-Arborescent  Ferns. 

This  includes  many  of  the  ferns  that 
are  most  useful  to  the  commercial  flor- 
ist. Though  many  ferns  of  this  class 
are  classed  as  tropical,  there  are  only 
a  few  that  will  not  thrive  in  a  mini- 
mum temperature  of  55  degrees. 


A  few  of  the  most  familiar  are: 
Acrostichum  aureum,  Adiantum  trape- 
ziforme,  Asplenium  caudatum,  Blech- 
num  brasiliense,  Davallia  divaricata, 
Nephrodium  macrophyllum,  Nephro- 
lepis  davallioides,Nephrolepis  exaltata, 
Polypodium  aureum,  Pteris  tremula, 
Woodwardia  orientalis,  and  hundreds 
of  others,  both  genera  and  species.  In 
that  class  are  our  large  decorative 
plants  of  pteris,  nephrolepis  and  poly- 
podium. 

No.  3.    Small  Growing  Ferns. 

As  the  larger  growing  ferns  are 
mostly  from  the  tropics,  so  the  dwarf- 
er,  more  compact  growing  ones  are  na- 
tives of  colder  or  more  temperate 
zones.  There  are  not  many  commer- 
cial ferns  taken  from  this  class  and, 
except  to  the  student  of  ferns,  they  are 
less  familiar.  A  few  examples  are 
several  forms  of  Adiantum  cuneatum, 
Asplenium  formosum,  Asplenium  fla- 
bellifolium,  Cheilanthes  fragrans,  sev- 
eral davallias  and  many  other  genera. 
Some  of  the  tropical  species  of  these 
smaller  ferns  make  excellent  material 
for  our  fern  pans.  A  list  of  the  most 
desirable  for  this  purpose  will  be  given 
later  on. 

No.  4.    Ferns  with  Colored  or  Tinted 
Fronds. 

As  is  obvious  from  the  above  de- 
scription, these  form  one  of  the  most 
ornamental  class,  and  in  classifying 
no  regard  to  size  has  been  considered. 


All  are  acquainted  with  the  exquisite 
tints  of  Adiantum  Farleyense,  the  blu- 
ish tint  of  Polypodium  aureum,  the 
variegated  Nephrodium  (Lastrea) 
opaca,  and  the  beautifully  colored 
fronds  of  Pteris  tricolor.  Several  of 
the  selaginellas  have  a  most  beautiful 
bronze  and  metallic  hue,  and  S.  rubella 
has  a  golden  form  that  is  much  valued. 
Many  genera  have  species  in  this  class, 
among  them  the  adiantum,  blechnum, 
davallia,  doodia,  nephrodium,  pellaea, 
polypodium,  pteris  and  selaginella. 

No.  5.    Variegated  and  Crested  Ferns. 

Here  the  author  of  the  "Book  of 
Ferns"  remarks  that  "If  we  consider 
the  many  crested,  variegated,  congest- 
ed, truncate,  depauperated,  revolute, 
cornute,  marginate  and  other  forms 
found  in  many  genera,  we  feel  bound 
to  acknowledge  that  there  is  little,  if 
any,  doubt  that  ferns  are  as  much  ad- 
dicted to  variation  as  any  other  mem- 
bers of  the  vegetable  kingdom."  We 
readily  believe  this,  for  in  this  city 
there  lived  an  old  Englishman,  a  shoe- 
maker, we  believe,  who,  when  emigrat- 
ing, had  brought  with  him  from  the 
.Cumberland  hills  his  beloved  ferns, 
and  had  in  cultivation  alone  fifty  dif- 
ferent forms  or  varieties  of  the  very 
common  British  fern,  Scolopendrium 
vulgare,  the  hart's  tongue  fern  of 
every  English  roadside.  Several  of 
these  forms  the  old  gentleman  claimed 
to  have  discovered  and  named,  and  we 
believed  him.  He  found  the  public 
were  not  craving  for  distinct  and  odd 
forms  of  his  scolopendriums,  and  be- 
ing withal  too  honest  for  this  country, 
returned  to  his  native  land. 

Just  here  an  innocent  little  story 
occurs  to  me  in  connection  with  these 
formidable  names  for  so  innocent  a 
plant.  A  gentleman  with  a  taste  for 
hardy  ferns  was  annoyed  with  tramps 
and  beggars  intruding  on  his  grounds, 
so  he  set  up  a  sign  which  read,  "Beg- 
gars Beware!  Polypodiums  and  Scolo- 
pendriums Set  Here!"  It  was  the  sim- 
ple truth  and  had  the  desired  effect. 

The  author  above  quoted  goes  on  to 
say:  "The  creation  of  new  species, 
especially  amongst  ferns,  is  mostly  the 
result  of  a  slow  process  of  evolution, 
by  which  nature  produces  new  types 
inheriting  more  or  less  of  the  parental 
characters.  To  these  same  variations 
or  freaks  of  nature  we  are  indebted 
for  the  majority  of  our  decorative 
trees  and  shrubs,  as  also  for  a  goodly 
number  of  flowering  and  foliage  plants 
of  an  herbaceous  nature."  Just  so; 
that  is  plain,  truthful  language,  and 
had  the  author  been  writing  on  zoo- 
logy he  would  most  likely  have  said 
the  same  about  the  variations  in  the 
species  of  animals,  and  back  of  species 
have  not  genera  been  evolved  in  the 
same  way,  but  not  with  animals  as 
freaks  of  nature  or  ornament  to  the 
individual,  as  by  their  development  in 
some  direction  that  best  suited  them 
to  their  environment,  and  which  comes 
back  exactly  to  that  great  truth,  "the 
survival  of  the  fittest." 

The  variegated  ferns  exist  in  a  num- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ber  of  genera.  Perhaps  the  most  fa- 
miliar to  us  is  Pteris  argyrea,  a  fine 
free  growing  fern.  The  variegated 
form  of  Adiantum  cuneatum  is  only 
interesting  to  the  specialist.  Variega- 
tion is  found  among  adiantums,  aspi- 
diums,  aspleniums,  nephrodiums,  poly- 
podiums,  pteris,  scolopendriums  and 
others. 

Crested  Ferns. 

While  variegation  is  found  mostly 
among  ferns  belonging  to  the  tropics, 
cristation,  .as  this  form  is  known,  is 
largely  confined  to  the  European  or 
cooler  species.  Cristation  consists  in 
the  subdivision  of  the  extremities  of 
the  frond,  forming  a  tassel,  sometimes 


which  is  covered  with  a  thick  coating 
of  powder,  giving  the  plant  a  marvel- 
lously rich  appearance. 

In  cheilanthes  the  silvery  appear- 
ance is  produced  by  scales  or  hairs 
evenly  and  thickly  distributed  over 
the  under  surface  of  the  fronds,  and 
in  the  noble  'Cyathea  dealbata  the  un- 
der side  of  the  fronds  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  painted.  Of  all  this 
ciass,  the  gymnogrammes  are  the  best 
known  and  most  useful,  and  if  I  could 
only  grow  two  of  them  it  would  be 
G.  chrysophylla,  a  perfect  cloth  of 
gold,  and  G.  c.  peruviana,  with  grand 
silvery  fronds.  Other  handsome  ferns 
of  this  class  will  be  found  among  the 


Adiantum  Decorum. 


grotesque  and  sometimes  very  orna- 
mental. And  sometimes  the  tips  or 
outline  of  the  whole  frond  are  divided 
and  multiplied.  It  has  been  noticed 
that  when  these  forms  or  monstrosi- 
ties occur  they  reproduce  themselves 
by  spores  with  little  variation.  The 
most  familiar  forms  we  know  are  the 
crested  pteris,  cretica  and  serrulata; 
Adiantum  cuneatum  has  several  forms, 
and  the  grand  Nephrolepis  daval- 
lioides  furcans.  Among  other  genera 
that  give  us  crested  forms  are  aspi- 
dium,  asplenium,  davallia,  gymno- 
gramme,  polypodium,  woodwardia,  etc. 

No.  6.    Gold  and  Silver  Ferns. 

Although  occurring  in  fewer  genera, 
the  gold  and  silver  ferns  embrace 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  plants,  and 
are  easy  of  culture.  They  are  all  of 
exotic  origin,  but  will  thrive  very  well 
in  a  winter  night  temperature  of  55 
degrees.  The  very  attractive  golden 
and  silvery  gymnogrammes  owe  their 
beauty  to  the  under  side  of  the  frond, 


cheilanthes,     gleichenia     and     notho- 
chlaena. 

No.  7.    Climbing,  Trailing  and  Drooping 
Ferns. 

In  this  large  class  will  be  found 
many  of  our  most  useful  decorative 
ferns.  We  use  them  for  cutting,  in 
veranda  boxes,  as  window  plants,  and 
for  the  hanging  baskets.  Many  of 
these  have  been  mentioned  in  other 
classes,  because  their  use  is  varied. 
Some  years  ago  at  Kew  Garden  we 
remember  seeing  baskets  of  adiantum 
and  davallia  three  feet  in  diameter. 
They  were  covered  on  all  sides,  a  per- 
fect ball,  and  we  have  all  seen  mag- 
nificent baskets  of  Nephrolepis  exal- 
tata  and  N.  e.  Bostoniensis.  There  are 
at  present  several  hanging  baskets  of 
the  latter  as  well  as  of  old  N.  tube- 
rosum  at  our  botanic  garden  that  are 
at  least  eight  feet  in  diameter;  they 
are  grand  objects  for  large  conserva- 
tories. 


The  truly  climbing  species,  which 
climbs  as  perfectly  as  smilax,  is  Lygo- 
dium  scandens  (Japonicum).  This  was 
largely  grown  about  twenty  years  ago 
as  a  decorative  plant,  and  was  used 
as  we  now  use  Asparagus  plumosus. 
It  is  now  little  heard  of;  possibly  the 
latter  beautiful  and  useful  plant  has 
displaced  it  in  public  favor.  There 
are  several  species  of  lygodium  and 
an  interesting  item  appears  in  the 
"Book  of  Ferns,"  which  says  that  our 
native  Lygodium  palmatum,  which 
grows  from  Massachusetts  southward, 
was  likely  to  become  extinct  in  the 
state  of  Connecticut,  and  was  pro- 
tected by  a  law  passed  by  the  state 
legislature  forbidding  its  being  gath- 
ered, under  a  penalty  of  $100.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  whether 
that  was  a  law  made  to  be  kept,  or, 
like  most  of  our  laws,  made  to  be 
broken. 

The  trailing  ferns  are  of  the  great- 
est use  to  the  amateur  who  has  a 
fernery  as  well  as  to  the  commercial 
man  for  baskets,  etc.  They  cover 
walls,  trunks  of  large  ferns  and  rocks. 

The  davallias  are  best  known  and 
are  grand  for  ~iis  purpose,  spreading 
out  into  large  masses.  Their  rhizomes 
(or  creeping  stems)  creep  on  the  sur- 
face and  are  ornamental  as  well  as 
the  fronds.  Many  of  the  beautiful  spe- 
cies are  from  warm  countries,  but  will 
thrive  wherever  50  degrees  is  kept  in 
winter.  Little  soil  but  thorough  drain- 
age is  the  great  requisite.  Their  sur- 
face rhizomes  when  growing  should  al- 
wa'ys  be  kept  moist,  and  when  parti- 
ally resting  in  water  never  allowed  to 
get  dry. 

Some  of  the  finest  of  this  beautiful 
genus  are:  D.  canariensis,  D.  bullata, 
D.  Tyermanni,  D.  dissecta,  D.  immer- 
sa,  D.  Mariesii,  D.  Novae-Zelandiae, 
D.  pentaphylla.  The  last  six  species 
are  especially  adapted  for  hanging 
baskets.  Their  curious  and  hairy 
rhizomes,  resembling  the  paw  of  some 
small  animal,  gives  rise  to  their  popu- 
lar name  of  hare's  foot,  squirrel's  foot, 
etc.,  although  Polypodium  aureum  is 
often  called  the  hare's  foot. 

The  nephrolepis  need  more  soil  for 
their  roots  and  are  not  so  truly  trail- 
ers as  the  davallias.  They  are  so  well 
known  little  need  be  said  here.  They 
multiply  fast,  and  if  given  surface 
room  soon  form  large  masses.  Their 
stolons,  or  what  we  would  call  in  a 
strawberry  a  runner,  spreauing  out  in 
all  directions,  sometimes  above  and 
sometimes  below  the  surface,  but  from 
them  there  spring  up  a  few  fronds, 
which  are  most  easily  taken  off  to 
form  another  plant,  or  left  to  add  to 
the  size  of  tne  parent  stock. 

The  gleichenia  is  another  beautiful 
genus  that  spreads  by  rhizomes,  and 
for  the  private  fernery  is  among  ..ae 
handsomest  but  not  so  easily  managed 
as  the  devallia.  Gleichenia  Boryi,  G. 
circinati,  G.  dicarpa,  G.  polypoides,  G. 
rupestris,  and  varieties  of  these  are 
mentioned  as  fine  trailing  ferns,  as  are 
many  of  the  polypodiums,  and  of  easy 
management.  P.  aureum,  P.  Bil- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Polypodium  Subauriculatum  in  a  hanging  basket. 


lardieri,  P.  Paradiseae,  P.  repens,  P. 
sororium  and  P.  verrucosum  are  high- 
ly commended  for  any  place  where 
ferns  of  a  creeping  or  trailing  habit 
are  desired. 

The  drooping  ferns  are  those  having 
drooping  or  pendulous  fronds  and  are 
more  valuable  for  hanging  baskets 
than  any  other  class,  and  none  are 
better  known  or  better  for  the  purpose 
than  the  splendid  genus  nephrolepis. 
By  their  stoloniferous  habit  young 
plants  soon  emerge  from  the  outside 
of  the  baskets  in  all  directions.  Sev- 
eral forms  or  variations  in  the  well 
known  N.  exaltata  have  appeared  late- 
ly and  the  variety  known  as  Bostoni- 
ensis  is  a  wonderful  acquisition.  It 
is  unequalled  as  a  basket  plant,  makes 
a  grand  specimen  in  a  pot  or  tub,  with- 
stands the  dry  heat  of  a  sitting  room 
remarkably  well,  equal  to  a  kentia 
palm,  and  does  fairly  well  in  the  broad 
sun  if  well  provided  with  water. 

The  best  known  and  most  desirable 
of  the  nephrolepis  are  N.  exaltata  and 
its  grand  variety  Bostoniensis,  N. 
cordifolia,  known  among  florists  gen- 
erally as  tuberosa  because  the  under- 
ground stolons  bear  tubers.  This  spe- 


cies, although  from  tropical  America, 
lives  and  grows  in  our  cool  house  and 
for  vases  and  veranda  boxes  is  the 
hardiest  of  all;  N.  davallioides,  and  its 
beautiful  form,  furcans.  Then  there 
are  several  species  or  varieties,  one 
known  among  us  as  cordata  compacta, 
shorter  in  the  frond  but  making  a  very 
compact,  dark  green,  handsome  plant. 
A  new  variety  has  lately  appeared, 
called  Washingtoniensis,  of  which  we 
have  heard  unfavorable  reports. 

Several  of  the  adianturns  have  a 
drooping  form  and  for  private  collec- 
tions are  beautiful,  but  not  florists' 
plants.  A.  concinnum  is  a  beautiful 
species,  and  with  it  are  recommended 
for  baskets  caudatum,  digitatum,  lunu- 
latum,  Moorei  and  others. 

Class  8.    Filmy  or  Transparent  Ferns. 

To  embrace  all  the  classes  it  is  nec- 
essary not  to  neglect  the  above,  al- 
though even  if  of  interest  to  the  flor- 
ist they  cannot  be  any  source  of  profit. 
Yet  they  are  considered  the  gems  of 
the  whole  family  of  ferns.  There  are 
only  three  genera:  hymenophyllum, 
trichomanes  and  todea.  These  three 
genera  have  numerous  representatives 


in  many  parts  of  the  world.  The  same 
difficulty  would  be  met  with  in  their 
cultivation  here  as  occurs  with  Odon- 
toglossum  crispum  among  orchids: 
our  hot,  dry  summers  and  the  neces- 
sity of  fire  heat  in  winter.  To  this 
class  belongs  the  world  famous  Kil- 
larney  fern,  which  grew,  and  if  Van- 
dals have  not  destroyed  it,  yet  grows 
among  the  shady  nooks  and  rocks 
about  the  Lakes  of  Killarney.  What 
a  pity  travelers  do  not  search  for  a 
section  of  the  vertebra  of  some  ex- 
tinct saint,  of  which  that  island  has 
been  so  prolific,  and  leave  the  gem  Tri- 
chomanes radicans  in  peace. 

Some  forty  years  ago,  in  fact,  ex- 
actly that,  the  writer  had  charge  of  a 
cool  conservatory.  In  that  house  on 
the  south  side  of  the  north  path,  about 
half  way  between  the  east  and  the 
west  paths,  and  partly  shaded  by  the 
fine  heads  of  a  Dicksonia  antarctica 
and  a  Cyathea  dealbata,  one  on  either 
side,  was  a  small  case,  perhaps  about 
five  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide,  with 
a  hinged  glass  roof;  and  in  this  case 
some  eighteen  inches  below  the  glass 
were  several  clumps  of  the  Killarney 
fern  (Trichomanes  radicans)  and  the 
other  British  filmy  farn,  Hymenophyl- 
lum Tunbridgense.  I  have  been  par- 
ticular in  locating  this  little  green- 
house within  a  greenhouse  because  I 
can  see  the  Killarnay  fern  now,  al- 
though I  have  not  seen  one  since  it  was 
my  duty  to  lift  up  the  lid  and  let  in 
a  little  air  if  there  was  too  great  a 
degree  of  moisture  on  the  delicate 
fronds.  There  was  an  older  and  wiser 
mind  than  mine  who  inspected  these 
plants  daily,  and  when  I  now  read  to- 
day of  the  most  approved  methods  of 
culture  of  these  wonderful  ferns  I  can 
see  that  the  house  of  forty  years  ago 
and  their  treatment  was  about  right. 
They  are  now  seldom  grown,  but  an 
ardent  lover  of  ferns  would  surely  like 
to  have  them  under  his  care.  Briefly 
then,  the  principal  fact  to  realize  is 
that  wherever  found  their  surround- 
ings are  charged  with  moisture:  Light 
they  have,  but  never  the  direct  rays 
of  the  sun.  Most  of  them  have  sur- 
face rhizomes  and  they  need  little 
soil,  which  can  be  broken  up  peat, 
chopped  sphagnum  and  pounded  up 
bricks  or  broken  crocks.  Moisture  at 
the  roots  they  want  at  all  times  and 
t  an  atmosphere  charged  with  moisture, 
'  but  no  syringing  overhead.  A  dry, 
cutting  draught,  even  in  the  green- 
house, would  soon  destroy  them.  The 
British  species  will  withstand  a  tem- 
perature far  below  freezing,  and  the 
species  from  India  and  the  West  In- 
dies, as  well  as  those  from  China,  Tas- 
mania and  New  Zealand,  are  found  at 
high  elevations.  The  hymenophyllums 
"forming  a  green  matting  over  con- 
stantly wet  rocks." 

A  low  temperature,  shade  and  moist- 
ure are  the  essentials  to  success  with 
these  beautiful  ferns,  which  the  com- 
mercial florist  will  let  severely  alone. 

Class  9.    Viviparous  and  Proliferous  Ferns. 

This  peculiar  class  includes  many 
species  of  many  different  genera. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Nephrolepis  Exaltata  Bostoniensis. 


While  in  some  genera  of  this  class 
only  two  or  three  species  are  repre- 
sented, in  others  they  predominate. 
The  large  genus  asplenium  is  of  the 
latter.  This  class  is  known  from 
their  curious  way  of  multiplying  or 
reproducing  their  species. 

They  are  again  divided  into  classes 
from  the  manner  or  disposition  of  the 
bulbils.  Two  of  the  best  known  ferns 
that  are  viviparous  are  Asplenium 
bulbiferum  and  Aspidium  angulare 
proliferum.  We  constantly  see  these 
in  every  place  where  ferns  are  grown. 
These  have  the  bulbils  or  little  plants 
scattered  over  the  upper  surface  of  the 
leaf,  and  are  most  readily  increased  by 
detaching  the  young  plant  and  potting 
or  laying  the  whole  leaf  on  the  surface 
of  some  pan  of  suitable  soil  where  the 
young  plants  soon  root  and  can  be  aft- 
erwards potted. 

Another  class  has  this  proliferous 
character  extending  only  to  the  stalk 
of  the  frond.  Another  class  has  but 
a  single  bulbil  growing  at  the  tip  or 
end  of  the  frond.  And  there  is  yet  an- 
other which  is  classed  as  proliferous, 
but  in  a  very  different  way  from  the 
other  three.  This  includes  the  inval- 
uable genus  nephrolepis,  and  its  pro- 
liferous character  enables  us  to  propa- 
gate it  with  such  ease,  and  is  also  the 
cause  of  its  being  such  a  splendid  bas- 
ket fern.  The  nephrolepis  have  long, 
wiry  stolons  or  underground  rhizomes 
provided  with  latent  buds  which  are 
constantly  sending  up  fronds  and 
forming  young  plants.  As  we  all 
know,  to  sever  this  wiry  rhizome  or 
stolon  from  the  parent  plant  is  not 
felt  by  either,  so  our  stock  of  the  Bos- 
ton fern  and  other  nephrolepis  is  most 
rapidly  increased  by  planting  out  me- 
dium sized  plants  in  four  or  five  inch- 
es of  soil  during  summer.  Besides 
those  mentioned  there  are  a  number  of 


viviparous  or  proliferous  ferns,  many 
of  them  highly  interesting  and  hand- 
some, but  not  desirable  to  the  plant 
grower.  These  are  adiautum,  gymno- 
gramme,  marattia,  nephrodium,  platy- 
cerium,  polypodium,  pteris,  scolopen- 
drium,  woodwardia  and  others;  all 
have  several  representatives  in  this 
curious  hen  and  chickens-like  class. 


Class  JO.    Curious  Ferns. 

This  last  division  includes  only  what 
is  strange,  striking,  peculiar,  or  a  spe- 
cies that  is  very  unlike  the  great  ma- 
jority of  ferns,  but  the  author  I  have 
so  liberally  quoted  does  not  include 
any  of  the  crested,  or  what  he  calls 
mal-formed,  varieties  of  originally  ele- 
gant species.  The  species  he  selects  for 
this  class  are  so  unlike  ferns  in  ap- 
pearance that  they  are  not  readily 
taken  for  ferns.  The  Lygodium  scan- 
dens  would  hardly  be  thought  a  fern, 
and  Platycerium  alcicorne,  the  well- 
known  stag's  horn  fern,  differs  widely 
from  our  usual  idea  of  ferns.  The 
Acrostichum  crinitum  of  the  West  In- 
dies must  be  a  remarkable  looking 
plant,  for  its  shape  and  texture  gives 
it  the  name  of  the  elephant's  ear. 
There  are  some  species  that,  but  for 
their  so-called  fruit,  bear  no  resem- 
blance to  the  ferns  or  entitle  them  to 
rank  with  the  order. 

As  curious  objects  for  the  fernery  or 
conservatory,  they  have  their  place, 
but  that  is  not  in  the  precincts  of  the 
commercial  man.  But  think  of  the 
thousands  of  forms  we  have  that  are 
strange,  grotesque,  beautiful,  graceful, 
some  creeping  on  wet,  cold  rocks  like 
a  tracery  of  fine  lace,  and  some  of  the 
family  rearing  their  plumed  heads  100 
feet  high  in  the  tropical  forest,  inhabi- 
tants of  the  earth  in  the  dark  ages  of 
the  dim  past,  contemporaries,  perhaps, 
of  the  giant  horse  tails  that  formed 
our  coal,  surviving  the  glacial  period. 


Nephrolepis  Rufescens  Tripinnatifida. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


All  kindred  because  the  reproduction 
of  the  species  is  the  same  in  all. 

Propagation. 

Those  that  have  surface  rhizomes, 
such  as  the  davallias  and  some  of  the 
adiantums  (Capillus-Veneris  is  one), 
are  easily  and  quickly  divided.  A 
rhizome  that  has  run  out  and  thrown 
up  a  few  fronds  will  have  also  made 
some  roots  and  can  be  severed  from 
the  parent  plant  and  potted.  Never 
over-pot  ferns.  It  is  true  that  some 
of  the  stronger  growing  kinds,  espe- 
cially the  pteris,  soon  get  root-bound 
and  then  want  larger  pots,  but  the 
great  majority  of  ferns  do  not  need 
so  much  pot  room,  but  they  always 
want  good  drainage,  so  that  water 
can  pass  freely  through. 

Those  that  have  stolons  or  under- 
ground rhizomes,  such  as  the  nephro- 
lepis,  are  most  easy  of  all  to  multi- 
ply, young  plants  often  coming  up  at 
the  side  of  the  pot  and  on  the  aerial 
roots,  the  young  plants  appearing  at 
intervals.  In  June,  when  your  bed- 
ding plants  are  gone,  select  a  bench 
that  will  let  the  water  through  freely, 
and  in  five  or  six  inches  of  soil  plant 
out  young  plants  from  3  or  4-inch  pots. 
They  will  by  September  or  October 
have  made  fine  plants  and  have  sent 
out  such  an  abundance  of  stolons  that 
at  intervals,  or  when  you  lift,  you 
will  get  a  number  of  young  plants, 
which  can  be  potted  up,  or  if  a  larger 
stock  is  needed,  replanted.  Tnere  is 
110  doubt  a  much  larger  plant  of  any 
of  the  nephrolepis  can  be  obtained  in  a 
short  time  by  planting  out  than  if 
grown  in  a  pot,  and  they  lift  with  a 
mass  of  roots,  perfectly,  without  los- 
ing a  single  frond. 

Few  of  the  commercial  sorts  are 
proliferous  on  the  leafy  frond,  but 
those  that  are  lend  themselves  to 


Nephrolepis  Davallioides  Furcans. 


propagation  most  easily,  as  described 
in  the  remarks  on  that  class. 

Some  species  that  grow  in  tufts, 
such  as  Adiantum  cuneatum,  the  com- 
mon Maiden  Hair,  can  be  divided.  The 
crown  should  oe  cut  carefully  and  then 
the  roots  pulled  apart.  Cuneatum,  or 
any  particular  form  of  it,  is  often  in- 
creased by  division,  and  sterile  species, 
of  which  the  most  beautiful  of  all,  A. 
Farleyense  is  one,  can  only  be  propa- 
gated by  division.  This  should  be 
done  in  early  spring,  when  the  plants 
are  in  most  cases  resting  and  before 


Pteris  Tremula  Smithae. 


the  young  growth  is  made,  but  can  by 
care  be  done  at  any  season. 

Just  here  it  is  worthy  of  mention 
that  this  beautiful  fern,  A.  Farleyense, 
is  usually  thought  to  be  a  sterile  form 
of  A.  tenerum,  but  there  is  no  definite 
knowledge  about  it,  and  the  millions 
of  plants  now  existing,  or  that  have 
existed,  all  came  from  one  plant  found 
growing  on  Farley  Hills,  in  the  Island 
of  Barbadoes,  the  thickest  populated 
island  of  the  world,  where  the  chil- 
dren's stomachs  are  distended  like  bal- 
loons by  an  unchanged  diet  of  sugar 
cane. 

Nearly  all  the  useful  species  can  be 
readily  raised  from  spores,  which  is 
the  natural  way,  and  has  the  advan- 
tage of  producing  possibly  either  an 
improved  form  or  variation  from  the 
parent  which  by  division,  or  by  pro- 
liferous stolons,  or  divisions  of  the 
rhizomes,  never  happens.  The  raising 
of  seedling  ferns  from  spores  is  a 
very  delicate  operation  and  with  the 
beginner  not  always  a  success.  You 
will  likely  get  several  species  which 
you  never  believed  you  sowed  and  few 
of  those  that  you  thought  were  sown. 
We  all  know  how  ferns  spring  up  in 
the  pots  or  on  the  ibench  if  left  undis- 
turbed for  a  few  months,  if  there  are 
any  spore-bearing  ferns  in  the  house. 
Adiantum  cuneatum  I  have  seen  vege- 
tate on  a  slimy,  dirty  brick  wall  by 
the  tens  of  thousands  and  had  to 
scrape  them  off  for  the  sake  of  clean- 
liness. 

Before  giving  any  directions  for 
sowing,  just  a  word  about  these 
spores.  The  whole  order  of  ferns  have 
no  flowers,  consequently  no  sexual  or- 
gans, and  from  the  spore  to  the  young 
perfect  fern  frond  like  its  parent  is  a 
profound,  complicated  and  mysterious 
phenomenon.  When  the  spore  vege- 


90 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Pteris  Victoriae. 


tates  it  forms  cells,  which  are  called 
the  prothallus,  and  is  only  an  increase 
of  cells.  On  the  under  side  of  the 
prothallus  (which  resembles  the  Liver- 
wort so  often  seen  on  the  surface  of 
our  soil  with  plants  making  a  slow  or 
stagnant  growth)  develop  the  organs 
of  both  sexes,  which  have  the  same 
function  as  the  more  conspicuous  or- 
gans in  the  flowering  plants.  To  de- 
scribe the  complicated  and  marvellous 
process  of  fertilization  would  require 
a  chapter,  had  I  time  or  space  to  quote 
it.  From  the  prothallus  finally  springs 
(varying  in  time  with  the  species)  the 
young  true  frond.  Any  cross  fertiliza- 
tion of  species,  as  we  do  with  flower- 
ing plants,  is  therefore  impossible,  but 
by  sowing  the  spores  of  different  spe- 
cies in  one  pan  there  is  assurance  that 
hybrids  havei  been  produced,  and  this 
is  getting  deep  into  science. 

One  word  as  to  the  fertility  or 
fecundity  of  ferns.  Mr.  Charles  T. 
Druery,  who  is  quoted  in  the  "Book 
of  Choice  Ferns,"  says:  "We  have  es- 
timated the  spores  upon  a  single  frond 
of  our  native  (British)  Polypodium 
vulgare  (a  frond  not  over  a  foot  long 
by  three  inches  wide),  and  found  that 
one  of  the  sub-divisions  of  the  same 
size  taken  from  a  tree  fern  would  yield 
plants  sufficient  to  form  a  wood  as 
large  as  Epping  Forest.  Every  frond 
would  bear  hundreds  of  such  sub-di- 
visions and  the  tree  fern  would  prob- 
ably bear  thirty  or  forty  fronds  every 
season.  A  little  calculation,  therefore, 
will  show  that  inconceivable  numbers 
have  to  be  xlealt  with."  Truly  incon- 
ceivable; countless  millions  on  every 
frond.  Another  illustration  by  the 
same  author  was  the  shaking  of  the 


spores  of  an  asplenium  out  and  col- 
lecting them,  about  filling  a  teaspoon, 
in  which  he  estimates  he  had  eighty 
million  spores.  So  if  one  in  ten  thou- 
sand of  the  spores  we  sow  vegetate, 
we  are  doing  well,  and  the  surface  of 
our  pan  will  be  covered  with  the 
moss-like  prothalli. 

The  spores  should  be  gathered,   or 
rather  the  frond  cut  before  the  spore 


of  broken  crocks,  should  be  baked  to 
destroy  all  germs  of  weeds  or  moss  or 
eggs  of  insects.  If  not  baked,  water 
with  scalding  water.  Make  the  sur- 
face smooth  and  scatter  the  spores. 
No  careless  watering  must  be  given, 
but  let  it  flow  over  the  surface  slowly. 

If  covered  with  glass,  which  it 
should  be,  the  soil  will  not  need  much 
watering  till  the  prothalli  appear  in 
the  way  above  described.  When  this 
about  covers  the  surface  of  the  pan 
they  should  be  divided  by  taking 
small  patches,  say  1-4  inch  square,  and 
placing  them  on  the  surface  of  other 
pans  or  flats.  Soon  the  true  fern  leaf 
will  appear,  when  in  time  the  liiue 
plants  can  be  pricked  out  singly  in 
small  pots,  or,  what  is  still  better,  in 
flats,  till  they  are  larger  and  need  a 
pot  for  themselves. 

If  a  few  large  plants  of  the  leading 
sorts  are  kept  in  a  house  and  allowed 
to  shed  their  spores,  they  will  be  car- 
ried to  every  corner  of  the  house,  and 
if  some  plants  (like  large  palms)  are  in 
the  house  that  are  not  often  shifted, 
you  will  be  sure  to  have  an  abundance 
of  young  ferns.  I  have  noticed  fre- 
quently the  young  plants  of  Adiantum 
cuneatum  growing  on  the  sphagnum 
in  the  cattleya  baskets. 

Cultivation. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  any 
special  instructions  for  any  particular 
class  of  ferns,  and  there  is  no  need  of 
it.  Those  that  make  strong  roots, 
such  as  the  pteris,  want  root  room  and 
must  be  well  drained.  Those  making 
surface  rhizomes,  as  the  davallias,  do 
not  want  much  depth  of  soil,  but  need 
surface  room  if  large  specimens  are 
wanted. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  in  soil 
ferns  are  not  at  all  particular.  At- 


Cyrtomium  Falcatum. 


cases  have  burst,  and  if  not  conve- 
nient to  sow  at  once,  put  them  away 
in  paper  bags.  The  soil  or  material 
you  sow  on,  which  can  be  a  light, 
sandy  loam,  covering  an  inch  or  so 


mospheric  conditions  are  of  far  more 
consequence.  A  good  fibrous  loam, 
with  a  third  of  leaf-mould,  will  suit 
any  of  them.  Bone  meal  will  help  ferns 
if  soil  is  thoroughly  watered  after  re- 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Gymnogramme  Decomposita. 


potting.  Some  growers  of  Adiantum 
cuneatum  add  about  one-sixth  of  well 
rotted  and  sifted  cow  manure  to  their 
compost.  Pot  firmly  but  not  too  solid. 

As  before  mentioned  about  tempera- 
ture, few  plants  will  thrive  in  a  lower 
temperature  than  that  of  their  native 
habitat  so  well  as  ferns.  Species  from 
the  tropics,  where  in  some  localities 
the  temperature  would  hardly  ever  be 
below  70  degrees,  will  do  very  well  in 
our  houses  if  not  below  55  degrees. 
Growers  of  Adiantum  cuneatum  or  A. 
decorum,  who  grow  houses  of  them  for 
the  market,  sometimes  as  pot  plants, 
but  more  often  for  the  cut  fronds,  will, 
I  am  aware,  keep  them  higher  than 
55  degrees.  Cuneatum  will  pay  best 
when  grown  in  a  high  temperature, 
but  should  be  well  matured  before  sold 
or  it  will  soon  wilt. 

Watering  ferns  does  not  need  any 
great  skill.  All  evergreen  ferns,  and 
we  grow  only  those,  require  plenty  of 
water  at  all  times,  but  less  in  winter, 
when  art  ferns  take  a  partial  rest.  We 
have  had  young  men  tell  us  that  at 
"their  establishment,"  where  the  A. 
Farleyense  was  well  grown,  they  have 
seen  repeatedly  Jack  Jones  standing 
with  the  hose  and  giving  the  Farley- 
ense a  good  syringing.  It  must  have 


been  on  the  morning  of  bright  summer 
days. 

Almost  all  ferns  are  found  as  under- 
growth in  forests  and  woods,  and  are 
shaded  by  the  trees  above.  Ferns  want 
subdued  light,  but  not  a  heavy  shade. 
The  ideal  conditions  for  all  the  ferns 
we  grow  would  be  a  house  that  could 
be  shaded,  say,  by  9  a.  m.,  and  the 
shade  removed  at  5  p.  m.,  but  that 
great  and  most  desirable  convenience 
the  commercial  man  has  not  yet  ob- 
tained. Next  to  that  is  a  north  house, 
where  light  comes  in,  but  not  -lie 
direct  rays  of  the  sun.  As  we  perhaps 
have  neither  of  the  above,  then  shade 
by  degrees  till  midsummer,  and  re- 
move gradually  as  winter  approaches. 
Ferns  will|grow  fast  enough  in  a  very 
shady  house,  but  the  fronds  are  weak 
and  straggling.  Plenty  of  water  at 
the  roots,  plenty  of  moisture  in  the 
house,  is  needed,  but  do  little  wetting 
of  the  fronds;  they  don't  need  it. 

One  of  the  most  important  points  to 
observe  is  to  give  the  ferns  a  cool  bot- 
tom. A  bench  with  three  or  four  4-inch 
pipes  under  it  is  the  worst  possible 
place.  A  solid  bed  covered  with  ashes 
will  suit  them  far  better.  If  growing 
adiantum  on  a  bench,  let  it  be  a  deep 
one  and  well  drained,  and  no  steam  or 
hot  water  pipes  near  it.  Let  the  pipes 


be  on  the  side,  where  they  can  have  no 
influence  on  the  soil.  The  bottom  heat 
that  is  so  congenial  to  most  of  our 
soft  wooded  plants  is  misery  to  the 
ferns. 

The  healthiest  lot  of  ferns  I  ever 
saw  under  glass  was  in  the  fernery  at 
the  Manchester  (England)  Botanic 
Gardens.  Cool  and  moist,  with  water 
trickling  over  rocks,  with  the  dick- 
sonias  in  the  center  and  their  great 
stems  covered  with  platyceriums,  you 
could  fancy  you  were  transported  to.  a 
rocky  dell  of  New  Zealand.  The  most 
luxuriant  ferns  growing  naturally 
we*e  on  the  banks  of  the  small  river 
or  inlet  to  Lake  Chautauqua,  N.  Y., 
where  the  osmunda  grew  to  the  wa- 
ter's edge  in  rank  profusion,  shaded 
by  the  overhanging  forest. 

Few  insects  trouble  our  commercial 
ferns.  'Scale  is  often  troublesome  to 
large  ferns.  Old  fronds,  if  badly  af- 
fected, are  best  cut  off  and  destroyed, 
and  washing  the  others  with  soap  and 
Nikoteen  is  all  you  can  do.  Thrip  will 
succumb  to  the  fumes  of  tobacco,  but 
ferns  don't  like  tobacco  smoke,  and  it 
is  much  better  to  vaporize  with  the 
Rose  Leaf  extract  of  tobacco  or  Niko- 
teen. Do  this  at  least  once  a  week;  it 
will  also  keep  down  aphis,  which 
sometimes  infests  the  young  fronds  of 
the  adiantums  and  will  do  the  ferns 
no  harm.  Wood  lice,  which  often  aie 
known  by  that  awful  name  of  sow 
bugs,  eat  the  tender  shoots.  A  hol- 
lowed-out  potato  in  which  they  will 
go  to  roost  will  catch  thousands,  or  a 
mixture  of  paris  green  and  powdered 
sugar  placed  along  the  edge  of  the 
bench  will  destroy  them. 

The  small  white  slugs  are  the  worst 
enemy  of  ferns,  and  the  adiantums 
seem  selected  as  their  own  especial 
diet.  The  old  remedy  of  placing  cab- 
bage or  lettuce  leaves  on  the  bench  or 
pots  is  sure  to  catch  many  of  them, 
but  they  should  be  examined  early 
every  morning.  The  slugs  are  said  to 
be  very  fond  of  bran,  and  if  small 
patches  are  put  on  the  bench  here  and 
there  the  slugs  will  revel  in  it  and  can 
be  caught.  Large  growers  o^.  the 
Maiden  Hair  find  that  a  light  dusting 
of  air  slacked  lime  on  the  plants  and 
soil  about  once  a  month  is  sufficient  to 
dispel  any  visitation  of  the  slugs. 

Ferneries. 

The  filling  of  small  ferneries  for  the 
table  is  now  an  important  branch  of 
business.  We  should  endeavor  to 
make  these  as  satisfactory  as  possible, 
for  they  are  short  lived  at  best.  We . 
get  them  returned  in  the  condition  of 
mud  and  again  as  dry  as  a  rock.  It 
will  not  pay  us  all  to  be  raising  our 
young  ferns,  and  unless  you  are  in  it 
with  all  facilities,  leave  it  to  the  spe- 
cialist. Ferns  that  are  small,  compact 
growing,  would  be  too  slow  in  grow- 
ing to  be  profitable,  so  it  is  small 
plants  of  quick  growing,  larger  kinds 
that  are  mostly  used  for  this  purpose. 
The  spores  are  sown  in  winter  or  early 
spring  and  the  plants  delivered  to  us 
from  2-inch  pots  in  the  fall  months. 

A  night  temperature  of  60  degrees, 


92 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Microlepia  Hirta  Cristata. 


with  a  cool  bottom  and  partial  shade, 
is  the  place  to  grow  on  the  young 
ferns.  You  don't  want  them  to  grow 
fast,  but  to  fill  up  and.  be  strong  and 
robust.  An  eastern  firm  who  raise 
several  hundred  thousand  young  ferns 
for  this  purpose  gave  me  the  following 
list  as  those  best  suited  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  first  four  being  most  useful 
in  the  center:  Pteris  cretica  magnifica, 
Pteris  cretica  albo-lineata,  Pteris  Vic- 
toriae  (variegated),  Pteris  argyraea, 
Cyrtomium  falcatum,  Aspidium  angu- 
lare,  Blechnum  occidentale,  Blechnum 
braziliense,  Davallia  stricta,  Lomaria 
ciliata,  Lomaria  Gibba,  Lastrea  opaca, 
Lastrea  chrysoloba,  Lastrea  artistata 
variegata,  Nephrodium  hertypes,  Ony- 
chium  japonicum,  Polystichum  cori- 
anum,  Polystichum  setosum,  Poly- 
stichum pubescens,  Pteris  biaurita  ar- 
gentea,  Pteris  serrulata,  Pteris  cris- 
tata,  Pteris  nana  compacta,  Pteris 
voluta,  Pteris  cretica  Mayii  (varie- 
gated), Selaginella  Emiliana  (for  edg- 
ing). 

Conclusion. 

With  the  exception  of  the  list  last 
quoted,  in  which  the  names  of  some 
varieties  may  not  be  correct,  but  by 
which  they  are  best  known,  I  have 
followed  out  the  nomenclature  of 
Hooker  and  Baker,  as  used  in  the 
"Book  of  Choice  Ferns,"  as  those 
names  will  eventually  prevail.  In  do- 
ing so,  however,  I  found  with  my  lim- 
ited knowledge  of  ferns  that  names 
have  been  much  changed  in  forty 
years.  What  we  knew  as  Lastrea 
felix-mas  is  now  Nephrodium  felix- 
mas,  and  many  less  familiar  cases. 

In  conclusion,  if  you  are  not  brought 
in  contact  with  any  class  of  plants 
you  cannot  quickly  memorize  their 
names,  but  all  plants  under  your  care 


or  that  you  handle  you  should  know 
correctly.  To  ask  the  name  in  a 
botanic  garden  or  at  your  neighbor's 
and  forget  it  the  next  moment  is  waste 
of  time  and  an  annoyance.  "Let  me 
see;  what  is  that  fern?  I  forget."  The 
professor  says,  "That  is  Onychium 
japonicum."  "Oh,  yes,  yes,  yes,  of 
course;  and  what's  that?"  And  before 
you  have  got  to  the  door  you  have  for- 
gotten the  very  sound  of  the  name. 


To  be  reminiscent  once  more.  Some- 
where about  the  year  '60  of  this  cen- 
tury the  writer  had  the  first  serious 
attack  of  the  "tender  passion."  The 
cause  of  the  attack  and  outoreak  was 
much  his  senior,  and  having  no  funds 
to  buy  an  album  or  a  volume  of  By- 
ron, he  made  a  collection  of  British 
ferns,  dried  them  in  a  book,  and  pre- 
sented them,  named,  and  the  collec- 
tion without  varieties  was  almost 
complete  with  the  exception,  perhaps, 
of  ten  species.  Now,  I  have  forgotten 
-what  size  glove  that  young  woman 
wore,  or  whether  her  hair  was  in  curls 
or  brushed  back  a  la  the  Empress  Eu- 
genie, but  I  will  never  forget  how  to 
write  Asplenium  Ruta-muraria,  al- 
though I  have  not  seen  Ruta-muraria 
or  the  old  yjpman  nigh  on  to  forty 
years.  Look. at  a  plant  and  write  it 
down;  once  written  and  spelt  correct- 
ly, you  will  never  forget.  The  writer 
has  a  fair  memory  for  anecdotes,  be- 
cause they  can  be  filled  in  as  you  go 
along,  but  no  good  for  names  unless 
he  writes  them  down;  then  they  stick 
in  that  laboratory  which  is  a  mystery 
to  all  of  us. 

FERTILIZERS  AND  MANURES. 

As  we  use  the  words  in  gardening 
operations,  they  include  any  sub- 
stance, animal  or  mineral,  that  will 
add  quantity,  weight,  vigor  and  size 
to  our  crops.  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
give  you  any  learned  discourse  on 
chemical  manures,  because,  first,  I  am 
not  able,  and,  secondly,  you  can  easily 
obtain  a  report  from  the  many  state 
agricultural  and  horticultural  stations 
giving  the  analyses  of  the  several  ma- 
nures and  the  quantities  used,  as  well 
as  their  effect  on  different  soils  and 
plants. 


Platycerium  Alcicorne. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Platycerium  Grande. 


The  paper  read  at  the  Cleveland 
convention  of  the  S.  A.  F.,  in  August, 
1896,  by  Prof.  R.  C.  Kedzie,  M.  A.,  of 
the  Michigan  Agricultural  College, 
was  very  instructive.  He  said  "Potas- 
sium, phosphorus  and  nitrogen  are  of 
the  highest  importance  to  florists  for 
four  reasons:  First,  they  are  abso- 
lutely indispensable  to  vegetable  life, 
because  no  plant  can  grow  in  the  ab- 
sence of  any  one  of  them;  second,  be- 
cause in  available  form  they  are  found 
in  smaller  amounts  than  other  food 
elements;  third,  because  they  are 
soonest  exhausted  by  cultivation; 
fourth,  because  they  are  especially 
concerned  in  the  early  growth  of 
plants  up  to  and  including  the  period 
of  flowering."  For  their  great  value, 
not  only  to  the  farmer,  but  to  the 
gardener,  the  professor  called  them 
"The  Chemical  Tripod  in  Floricult- 
ure." 

The  fertilizer  that  is  a  favorite  with 
all  florists  is  what  we  call  bone  dust 
or  flour.  There  is  sometimes  confusion 
about  the  names  of  these  grades.  With 
us  the  bone  dust  is  ground  up  about 
as  fine  as  Scotch  oatmeal,  but  there 
are  too  many  coarse  pieces  in  it  to  be 
available  to  thq  plants  in  one  season. 
If  the  plants  were  to  grow  two  or 
three  years  in  the  same  pot  or  bench, 
then  the  coarser  particles  would  be 
all  right,  because  the  coarser  particles 
would  be  gradually  dissolving  and 
giving  ibenefit  to  the  soil  and  plants; 
but  if  not  dissolved,  then  you  have 
thrown  out  a  costly  fertilizer  and  had 
no  benefit.  So  when  we  want  "bone" 
for  roses  or  carnations,  or  to  mix  with 
our  potting  soil  in  early  spring,  to 
give  our  soft-wooded  plants  a  jump, 
we  order  the  bone  "flour,"  which  is 
really  as  fine  as  flour. 

Bone  is  the  most  complete  manure 
we  can  use,  because  it  contains  both 


phosphate  and  nitrogen.  The  quan- 
tity you  can  use  is  often  questioned. 
I  have  heard  one  professor  say  he 
"thought  you  could  not  overdo  it  if 
the  soil  was  not  allowed  to  get  dry." 
We  have  used  on  carnations  200 
pounds  on  a  bench  with  five  inches  of 


Platycerium  Willinckii. 


soil,  200  feet  long  and  6  feet  wide, 
and  seen  only  the  best  results.  For 
potting  soil  we  have  used  a  6-inch  pot 
full  to  an  ordinary  wheelbarrow  of 
soil.  Perhaps  much  more  could  be 
added  with  safety,  but  we  don't  think 
it  advisable. 

Phosphates  produce  flowers  and  ni- 
trates produce  a  strong  leaf  growth, 
giving  a  rich  green  to  the  foliage. 
Here  it  may  be  as  well  to  say  that  all 
manures  reach  the  roots  of  plants 
more  completely  and  perfectly  when 
applied  in  a  liquid  form  than  in  the 
dry  state,  but  not  all  of  us  have  the 
facilities  for  so  applying  them. 

Last  year,  being  short  of  ground 
bone,  we  used  on  carnations  in  the 
same  quantities  as  bone  a  superphos- 
phate of  a  fine  grade  that  was  sold 
under  the  name  of  "potato  phos- 
phate," simply  being  of  a  better  qual- 
ity than  that  usually  sold  to  farmers 
for  their  wheat,  etc. 

Nitrate  of  soda  (Chili  saltpeter)  is 
valuable  for  its  available  nitrogen  and 
we  have  tried  it  on  several  plants,  one 
pound  dissolved  in  fifty  gallons  of 
water.  It  produces  a  rich  growth  of 
leaf  and  stem,  but  does  not  induce 
flowers  (in  fact,  the  contrary),  but  in 
the  early  stages  of  plants,  young 
roses,  for  instance,  where  growth  and 
size  of  plant  is  wanted,  not  flower,  it 
can  be  used  to  advantage.  My  experi- 
ence with  it  in  mineral  form  was  very 
disastrous.  I  sowed  it  on  a  bench  of 
carnations  and  then  stirred  it  in  be- 
fore the  carnations  were  planted, 
about  two  pounds  on  a  space  8x7  feet. 
It  killed  almost  every  carnation.  A 
smaller  quantity  might  have  had  a 
different  effect,  but  don't  use  it  except 
in  solution.  English  farmers  sow  it 
broadcast  on  their  grain  crops  in  early 
spring,  but  on  the  surface  and  out  of 
doors  is  no  guide  to  us.  In  solution 
and  the  proportion  named  above  (one 
pound  in  fifty  gallons  of  water)  it  is 
a  valuable  stimulant  to  violets,  pro- 
ducing a  larger  and  deeper  blue 
flower;  and  as  we  usually  get  plenty 
of  violet  flowers  too  often  lacking  in 
quality,  there  is  where  the  nitrate  of 
soda  is  very  valuable. 

Prof.  Kedzie  places  a  very  high 
value  on  wood  ashes,  in  fact  places 
them  first,  and  to  quote  him,  he  says: 
"These  contain  all  the  mineral  matter 
of  plant  growth,  and  so  far  as  min- 
erals are  concerned  are  an  all  round 
manure.  Without  this  mineral  mat- 
ter in  some  form  plants  cannot  grow." 
We  have  many  of  us  a  good  opportu- 
nity to  obtain  this  valuable  fertilizer 
very  near  home,  but  do  not  avail  our- 
selves of  it.  They  can  be  used  with 
ordinary  animal  manure.  About  one 
peck  to  a  yard  or  load  of  soil  will  be 
found  a  safe  quantity.  As  the  ashes 
of  wood  contain  the  elements  that  the 
mature  plant  contained,  they  must 
furnish  the  elements  for  a  full  and 
rapid  growth. 

The  way  we  use  our  chemical  fer- 
tilizers is  not  similar  to  that  followed 
on  the  farm  or  market  garden,  where 
a  change  of  manure  may  be  desirable 
on  any  one  piece  of  ground.  With  a 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


bench  of  roses  or  carnations  it  is  a 
new  lot  of  plants  and  new  soil  every 
year,  and  if  bone  meal  is  a  perfect 
manure  there  can  be  no  harm  in  using 
it  year  after  year. 

Guano  was  largely  in  use  thirty 
years  ago  when  the  supply  was  great- 
er. It  is  the  excrement  of  sea  birds, 
found  on  the  islands  off  the  coast  of 
Peru.  It  is  difficult  now  to  obtain  and 
what  would  be  sold  to  you  for  Pe- 
ruvian guano  would  be  most  likely  an 
imitation.  The  pure  guano  was  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  of  manures. 
We  have  used  a  2-inch  pot  of  guano 
in  four  gallons  of  water  and  the  ef- 
fect of  an  occasional  watering  on  soft- 
wooded  plants  was  marvelous.  If 
procurable  it  would,  however,  be  too 
expensive  and  not  as  complete  a  ma- 
nure as  bone  meal. 

Of  the  animal  manures  the  one 
mostly  in  use  by  florists  is  that  of 
the  cow  stable.  Why,  I  do  not  know, 
as  horse  manure  is  richer  in  ammo- 
nia. One  of  the  best  rose  growers  we 
know,  on  being  asked  what  manure 
he  used,  answered,  "Any  I  can  get." 
A  few  years  ago  my  neighbor,  Mr.  W. 
J.  Palmer,  showed  me  two  houses  of 
Daybreak  carnations  that  were  for 
general  vigor,  stout  stem  and  large 
flowers  much  superior  to  other  houses 
of  the  same  variety.  On  being  asked 
to  account  for  it,  Mr.  Palmer  said  he 
could  not,  except  that  the  best  lot 
had  manure  from  his  horse  stable 
while  the  poorer  ones  had  only  cow 
manure.  We  believe  that  the  cause 
was  explained. 

While  certain  animal  manures  may 
have  special  fertilizing  properties,  for 
our  crops  of  roses  and  carnations  it 
would  be  perfectly  safe,  and  I  believe 
beneficial,  to  use  them  mixed.  There 
is  no  doubt  there  is  a  difference  in 
the  qualities  of  manure  by  the  differ- 
ence in  the  food  of  the  animals.  Ani- 
mal or  farm-yard  manure  should  not 
be  allowed  to  lie  in  a  great  heap  and 
violently  ferment,  or  much  of  its  value 
will  be  destroyed. 

With  our  roses  there  is  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  quantity  to  use.  Too 
much  manure  in  the  soil  for  carna- 
tions produces  a  rank,  soft  growth, 
and  if  bone  meal  or  superphosphate  is 
used  a  tenth  of  animal  manure  is  suf- 
ficient. With  roses  a  sixth  or  seventh 
is  sometimes  used,  and  more  often 
less.  Sheep  manure  is  much  stronger 
and  a  twentieth  is  as  strong  as  it 
should  be  used.  In  making  up  our 
compost  pile  in  the  summer  time  for 
use  in  the  following  winter  and  spring 
we  have  often  added  a  fourth  of  horse 
or  cow  manure,  and  when  chopped 
down  and  thoroughly  mixed  with  soil 
it  was  not  more  than  was  beneficial  to 
our  usual  run  of  soft-wooded  plants, 
such  as  geraniums,  coleus,  cannas,  etc. 

There  is  not  any  doubt  that  our  ani- 
mal manures,  besides  imparting  ferti- 
lizing properties  to  the  soil,  are  often 
of  a  mechanical  benefit,  making  the 
soil  more  porous  and  friable. 

We  should  remember,  in  discussing 
the  quantities  and  qualities  of  ma- 
nures, that  there  is  such  a  wide  dif- 


ference, not  only  in  the  chemical  prop- 
erties of  soils  in  different  localities, 
but  in  the  condition  of  soils  of  the 
same  qualities.  A  meadow  that  has 
been  used  as  a  pasture  for  ten  or  fif- 
teen years  will  give  you  a  sod  that 
must  be  rich  in  plant  food  over  that 
which  has  been  laid  down  but  two 
years  and  previously  was  cropped  year 
after  year.  Or  again,  the  soil  of  a 
market  garden  that  has  annually  re- 
ceived a  heavy  dressing  of  manure 
will  grow  any  of  our  greenhouse  crops, 
while  a  worn-out  garden,  however 
good  naturally 'the  texture  of  the  soil, 
will  grow  nothing  ^without  the  aid  of 
some  quick  acting  fertilizer. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  I  would 
remind  you  that  soot  (bituminous 
only)  is  very  largely  used  by  the  plant 
growers  of  Europe,  and  Nicholson 
says:  "It  has  the  advantage  over  oth- 
er manures  that  it  can  hardly  be  mis- 
appled."  No  soot  is  wasted  in  the 
cities  of  Great  Britain;  it  is  all  sold 
to  the  farmer  and  gardener.  It  is  not, 
however,  a  flower  producer,  but  adds 
size  and  lustre  to  the  leaf  and  flower. 
It  is  used  by  all  cyclamen  growers, 
mixed  with  the  soil,  and  as  a  liquid. 
And  by  chrysanthemum  growers  it  is 
highly  valued.  A  peck  of  it  is  put 
into  a  bag  and  placed  in  fifty  gallons 
of  water,  and  the  effect  on  the  leaf  and 
color  of  the  flower  is  most  marked. 

Animal  or  organic  manures  can_  be 
misapplied  or  used  to  excess  in  the 
greenhouse,  but  in  the  field  seldom 
are,  and  it  is  generally  a  sign  of  a 


thrifty  florist  or  gardener  when  you 
see  his  place  adorned  with  manure 
piles;  it  is  money  well  laid  out;  it  is 
an  investment  that  with  ordinary 
management  is  sure  to  come  back  with 
great  interest.  Millions  of  acres  in 
our  eastern  states  are  crying  for  ma- 
nure to  replace  the  properties  of  the 
soil  that  lazy  and  careless  tillage  has 
year  after  year  taken  from  it. 

FICUS. 

A  large  genus  of  trees  or  shrubs 
cultivated  for  their  ornamental  leaves, 
F.  elastica,  familiarly  known  as  the 
rubber  tree,  is  the  species  we  are  in- 
terested in  above  all  others,  although 
for  private  collections  and  botanical 
gardens  several  others  are  noble 
plants.  F.  repens  (properly  F.  stipu- 
lata)  is  a  small-leaved,  very  useful 
climbing  plant,  growing  and  adhering 
closely  to  the  walls  of  greenhouses, 
making  a  very  pretty  appearance,  and 
will  withstand  a  few  degrees  of  frost. 

F.  Parcelli  has  a  very  prettily  vari- 
egated leaf.  It  is  very  unlike  elastica, 
the  plant  being  more  branching  and 
slow  growing.  The  leaves  are  sharp 
pointed,  three  or  four  inches  long  and 
very  irregularly  blotched.  It  is  hand- 
some when  well  grown,  but  is  most 
horribly  addicted  to  thrip  and  red 
spider. 

F.  elastica  is  now  a  plant  of  the  first 
importance  with  all  commercial  plant 
men.  Tens  of  thousands  are  annually 
sold.  The  "rubber"  is  known  to  all 
as  one  of  the  very  best  house  plants. 


Picas  Elastica. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


We  have  all  seen  it  thriving  in  a  dark 
hall,  and  with  fair  treatment  there  are 
few  plants  that  will  endure  unfavor- 
able conditions  as  well.  We  get,  how- 
ever, lots  of  complaints.  "My  rubber 
is  losing  its  leaves,  etc." 

I  tell  my  customers  to  sponge  the 
leaves  occasionally  and  if  the  water 
passes  through  the  soil  freely  to  water 
twice  a  day  in  summer  and  once  every 
day  in  winter. 

They  stand  out  in  pots  and  tubs  dur- 
ing summer  in  the  broad  sun  and  they 
want  plenty  of  water.  I  have  never 
seen  their  fine  leaves  burned  or  in- 
jured by  the  sun  when  out  of  doors, 
but  they  easily  burn  under  glass  in 
the  bright  days  of  spring  before  we 
are  shaded. 

The  following  is  not  quoted  for  my 
readers  to  follow,  but  the  most  shiny 
leaves  and  greasiest  soil  I  ever  saw 
was  on  a  plant  brought  to  me  two 
years  ago.  I  think  the  little  lady 
brought  it  for  my  inspection  because 
she  was  proud  of  it.  It  looked  bright 
and  well  and  its  introduction  to  me 
was  as  follows:  "What  do  you  think 
of  my  rubber,  Mr.  S.  ?  I  oiled  its 
leaves  yesterday  with  olive  oil  and 
last  week  a  friend  told  me  she  thought 
it  was  troubled  with  worms,  so  I  gave 
it  two  tablespoonfuls  of  castor  oil  and 
two  worms  came  out." 

Perhaps  to  Mr.  Wm.  K.  Harris,  of 
Philadelphia,  belongs  the  credit  of 
growing  the  finest  specimen  rubbers 
in  one  year  of  any  man  in  the  world, 
producing  branching  plants  6  feet  high 
and  4  feet  through,  and  furnished  with 
leaves  to  the  pot.  I  do  not  pretend 
to  tell  you  how  to  emulate  Mr.  Harris, 
but  young  plants  that  are  wanted  to 
branch  should  not  be  allowed  to  grow 
3  feet  high  and  then  cut  down  to  the 
hard  wood.  They  will  break,  but  slow- 
ly. If  wanted  branched  pinch  the  top 
out  of  the  strongest  young  plants 
when  not  over  15  inches  high. 

F.  elastica  is  a  tropical  tree,  but  will 
exist  in  our  greenhouses  in  winter  at 
a  temperature  of  50  degrees  or  even 
lower,  but  when  rapid  growth  is  want- 
ed 70  degrees  at  night  is  the  tempera- 
ture, and  when  growing  those  speci- 
mens spoken  of  above  it  is  never  less 
than  that  and  possibly  100  in  the  day 
time. 

The  rubbers  thrive  in  a  comparative- 
ly small  pot  and  for  our  sales  should 
not  be  overpotted.  A  good,  open,  turfy 
loam,  with  a  fifth  or  sixth  of  manure, 
and  to  this  compost  add  one  quart  of 
bone  meal  to  every  bushel. 

Propagation  is  by  two  methods — 
cuttings  and  what  is  generally  known 
as  "mossing."  The  latter  is  much  the 
surest  way.  Sometimes  cuttings  root 
very  well,  and,  again  under  the  same 
conditions  they  don't.  Cuttings  seven 
or  eight  inches  long,  with  several 
leaves,  always  the  latest  growths,  and 
cut  just  'below  a  joint,  inserted  in  a 
2-inch  pot  ,of  sand  and  loam,  the  end 
of  the  cutting  well  down  to  bottom  of 
pot  and  the  pot  plunged  in  some  mate- 
rial where  the  bottom  heat  is  80  de- 
grees, will  usually  meet  with  success. 
Keep  the  cuttings  after  the  first  water- 


A  Wreath  of  Roses. 


ing  only  moderately  moist.  As  the 
leaves  are  much  in  the  way  a  small 
stick  is  inserted  in  the  pot  to  which 
the  leaves  are  drawn  up.  If  this  were 
not  done  they  would  take  up  a  great 
deal  of  room  and  be  inconvenient  to 
water.  They  should  be  well  rooted  in 
the  small  pots  before  being  shifted. 
Late  spring  is  a  good  time  to  propa- 
gate by  cuttings. 

By  the  mossing  system  failure  is  al- 
most impossible.  August  and  Septem- 
ber are  favorable  months  for  the  oper- 
ation because  the  wood  is  about  right 
then,  but  it  can  be  done  at  any  time. 
The  tops  of  young  plants  can  be  taken, 
although  large  branching  trees  are 
usually  kept  where  they  are  propa- 
gated in  any  quantity.  Nine  or  ten 
inches  from  the  tip  of  the  shoot,  where 
the  wood  is  not  too  green  nor  too  hard, 
a  cut  is  made  in  the  wood  upwards 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  long  from  the 
bark  to  about  half  way  through  the 
shoot.  Sphagnum  moss  is  inserted  to 
keep  the  cut  open  and  more  moss 
wrapped  round  to  entirely  envelop  the 
stem  where  the  cut  has  been  made.  If 
the  moss  when  tied  on  is  as  large  as  a 
hen's  egg  you  have  enough  on.  Keep 
the  moss  syringed  daily. 

In  five  or  six  weeks  you  will  see 
roots  protruding  through  the  moss. 
Let  them  get  well  rooted  and  then 
sever  from  the  plant  just  below  the 
moss,  and  pot.  The  young  plants 
should  be  kept  from  sun  and  draught 
till  they  take  hold  of  the  new  soil. 

Most  florists  are  pleased  to  inform 
their  customers-  that  this  is  the  plant 
that  produces  the  rubber  of  commerce, 
and  a  slight  scratch  on  a  shoot  will 
soon  show  the  milky  sap,  but  they  are 


mistaken.  Ficus  elastica  is  a  native 
of  the  East  Indies,  and  our  rubber 
comes  from  Brazil  and  from  a  tree  that 
is  very  unlike  Ficus  elastica. 

FITTONIA. 

Very  pretty  little  trailing  plants  that 
require  a  good  heat  at  all  times.  They 
are  easily  propagated  in  the  spring  in 
warm  sand.  A  few  plants  in  a  6  or  8- 
inch  pan  will  soon  cover  it  and  make 
very  ornamental  pans  for  the  table. 
For  large  ferneries  they  are  very  use- 
ful. They  like  shade  and  plenty  of 
water  during  summer  when  growing. 

F.  gigantea  is  somewhat  erect,  with 
pale  red  flowers  and  finely  veined 
leaves. 

F.  Verschaffeltii  and  its  varieties, 
argyroneura  and  Pearcei,  are  the 
kinds  useful  to  the  florist,  being  dwarf, 
spreading  and  compact,  entirely  cover- 
ing the  pot  or  pan  with  their  very  or- 
namental foliage.  The  leaves  of  the 
former  are  bright  green,  with  a  trac- 
ing of  pure  white.  The  latter  is  also 
green,  with  veins  of  bright  carmine. 

FLORAL   ARRANGEMENTS. 

Within  twenty  years  there  has  been 
a  great  change  in  our  floral  arrange- 
ments and  designs.  This  has  been 
partly  brought  about  by  the  innova- 
tions of  the  more  enlightened  florist 
and  partly  by  the  more  refined  taste 
of  our  customers  who  have  rebelled 
against  the  same  old  conventional  ar- 
rangements. Time  was  when  the  cen- 
ter-piece of  the  table  was  an  elaborate 
lofty  affair,  very  complicated  in  de- 
sign and  three  or  four  feet  high,  and 
if  the  host  at  the  head  of  the  table 


.96 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


A  Vase  of  Roses. 


wished  to  see  those  at  the  other  end 
he  or  she  had  to  lean  over  at  a  tilting 
angle.  Reason  has  abolished  all  this 
and  whatever  flowers  are  used  now  are 
in  low  baskets  or  trays  or  vases  with 
flowers  on  their  natural  stems.  This 
wiping  out  of  these  very  artificial  ar- 
rangements may  be  a  loss  to  some 
classes  of  florists,  but  who  can  regret 
the  more  natural  and  beautiful  use  of 
flowers  which  prevails  today. 

Baskets  or  trays  are  still  used  for 
holding  the  roses,  carnations,  violets 
or  orchids,  but  we  expect  to  see  these 
go  soon  and  all  flowers  used  in  vases 
of  some  kind  for  all  decorations.  They 
last  better,  they  look  better,  it  is  bet- 
ter taste  and  more  comfort  to  the 
guest  to  look  upon  a  vase  of  roses 
whose  petals  and  leaves  are  plump  and 
fresh  than  upon  those  whose  heads 
begin  to  droop,  for  you  will  be  of  a 
strange  build  yourself  if  you  do  not 
feel  a  wilting  come  over  your  spirits 
in  a  more  or  less  degree  when  you 
look  upon  a  wilted  arrangement  of 
flowers.  The  wilted  dude  rolled  in  the 
gutter  over  night  is  not  a  more  piti- 
able sight  than  a  basket  of  roses  that 
have  collapsed.  And  the  less  our  cus- 
tomers see  of  these  wilted  flowers  the 
better. 

At  smaller  dinner  parties  Maiden- 
hair fern  or  Farleyense  or  asparagus 
sprays  are  strewn  on  the  table  and 
here  and  there  some  flowers  of  the 
choicest  kinds,  rose  buds,  orchids  or 
lily  of  the  valley.  This  is  a  beautiful 
arrangement  and  most  pleasing  to  the 
guest  if  not  overdone.  Very  seldom 
now  that  any  design  of  flowers,  wheth- 
er for  the  table  or  a  gift,  is  made  of 
more  than  one  or  two  varieties  of 


A  Vase  of  Carnations. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


97 


flowers,  and  more  often,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  orchids,  it  is  only  one  va- 
riety. It  is  a  basket  of  pink  and  white 
roses,  or  all  Meteor  or  Liberty  roses,  or 
American  Beauties,  all  lily  of  the  val- 
ley, or  valley  and  violets.  Perhaps 
all  violets  and  perhaps  violets  and  Ro- 
man hyacinths.  It  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  make  an  ugly  combination  of 
carnations,  they  blend  so  finely,  yet 
they  are  most  often  chosen  in  one  col- 
or or  at  most  one  or  two  shades.  Tulips 
and  narcissus  are  scarcely  ever  used 
except  in  one  color. 

Orchids  are  of  such  a  fantastic  shape 
and  pleasing  colors  that  a  variety  is 
prettier  than  a  mass  of  one  sort.  A 
basket  of  all  Cattleya  Trianae  would 
be  very  rich,  almost  too  heavy,  and  the 
addition  of  cypripediums  and  onci- 
diums  would  be  an  improvement  and 
entirely  in  keeping  with  the  nature  of 
the  flowers.  The  orchids  are  from  the 
tropics  where  the  vegetable  kingdom  is 
all  jumbled  up  and  thousands  of  spe- 
cies to  the  acre,  while  the  natives  of 
a  cooler  clime,  our  roses  and  carna- 
tionsi  and  violets,  grow  in  colonies  as 
do  the  wild  flowers  of  the  northern 
temperate  zone. 

It  is  difficult  to  foresee  any  great  im- 
provement in  the  arrangement  of  our 
flowers  for  decorations  over  the  pre- 
vailing taste  and  customs  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  There  need  not  be  less  used 
because  the  arrangement  is  simple. 
Flowers  on  their  own  stems  is  the  or- 
der of  the  day  and  the  longer  the 
flowers  last  in  their  beauty  the  more 
there  will  be  wanted,  for  in  many 
homes  now  and  in  the  future,  in  every 
home,  humble  as  well  as  palatial,  some 
flower  will  be  considered  not  a  luxury 
but  an  essential  and  comfort. 

A  great  many  florists  in  this  coun- 
try, especially  shop  or  store  keepers, 
depend  very  largely  on  the  funeral 
orders  for  their  living.  If  the  prevail- 
ing fashion  of  sending  flowers,  par- 
ticularly designs,  to  the  family  of  the 
bereaved  were  suddenly  to  become  un- 
fashionable with  all  classes  of  society 
there  are  several  thousand  flower 
stores  throughout  the  land  that  would 
be  to  rent  for  some  other  class  of  busi- 
ness. It  is  not  likely  to  go  so  sud- 
denly out  of  fashion  but  it  will 
change;  and  the  change  has  already 
come  with  many  people.  A  large  num- 
ber of  citizens  recently  banded  them- 
selves together  in  Cleveland  and  in  my 
city  and  perhaps  others,  to  protect 
themselves  against  "The  enormous  and 
extravagant  expense  of  funerals,  the 
outlay  and  display  made  at  the  funeral 
of  the  dead  often  leaving  the  survivors 
in  hopeless  debt." 

Carriages  and  flowers  of  course  come 
in  for  a  good  part  of  these  worthy  peo- 
ple's condemnation.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  expense  of  many  fune- 
rals is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
means  of  the  family;  it  is  ridiculous 
and  almost  criminal  to  see  such  osten- 
tation, and  we  often  suffer  from  it. 
An  instance  occurred  the  other  day. 
Forty  dollars'  worth  of  flowers  were 
ordered  and  delivered,  and  a  month  or 
so  afterwards  the  collector  was  told 


Wreath  of  Ivy  Leaves  and  Orchids. 


A  Plain  Crescent  Wreath. 


98 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


A  Shower  Bouquet  of  Lily  of  the  Valley  ancTCypripediums. 

by  the  poor  widow  that,  "The  children 
had  gone  too  far  in  ordering,  and  ad- 
ded that  her  husband  had  led  a  double 
life,  having  a  wife  in  St.  Louis  as  well 
as  here  in  Buffalo,  and  instead  of  hav- 
ing ten  thousand  dollars  life  insurance, 
as  she  supposed,  he  had  none,  and  she 
was  penniless.  And  there  are  lots  of 
such  cases. 

In  those  times  of  distress  and  excite- 
ment people  are  often  careless  about 
expenses.  You  can't  very  well  ask  for 
payment  before  the  articles  are  deliv- 
ered and  it's  hard  hearted  to  send  an 
order  C.  O.  D.  or  to  call  around  the 
next  day  with  your  bill.  Looking  at  it 
in  a  business  way,  without  sympathy, 
when  you  know  the  family  is  quite 
poor,  persuade  them  that  very  little  is 
necessary.  When  a  number  of  friends 
are  uniting  together  to  send  a  deceased 
friend  a  design,  get  all  you  possibly 
can.  They  won't  miss  it  and  it's  a 
worthy  way  to  distribute  wealth,  and 
distributed  it  is,  as  is  the  outlay  for 
all  luxuries  as  well  as  necessities. 

No  association  or  legislation  or  ad- 
vice or  admonition  from  pastor  or 


A  Simple  Form  of  Broken  Column. 


A  Small  Pillow. 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


99 


bishop  can  stop  or  abolish  the  use  of 
flowers  at  funerals;  for  there  is  noth- 
ing else  you  can  do.  In  no  other  way 
can  you  show  your  sympathy.  With 
some  people  the  use  of  flowers  at  the 
grave  is  as  old  as  history  and  will  con- 
tinue. But  fashion  arid  a  more  refined 
taste  will  modify  and  change  the  man- 
ner of  their  use. 

We  read  constantly  of  the  obsequies 
of  some  illustrious  personage  in  Eu- 
rope and  the  flowers  used  are  invaria- 
bly in  the  shape  of  a  wreath.  You 
would  think  they  knew  of  nothing 
else  but  a  wreath,  for  it  is  a  wreath 
from  the  emperor  of  Germany  or 
Queen  Victoria  or  the  "Honorable 
Guild  of  Candlestick  Makers  of  the 
Ancient  City  of  London."  They  never 
rise  above  or  below  a  wreath,  and 
when  you  read  of  carloads  of  wreaths, 
or  that  it  took  one  hundred  men  to 
carry  the  wreaths,  as  it  did  at  the  fu- 
neral of  the  late  president  of  France, 
you  feel  nauseated,  as  if  you  had  sat 
down  to  a  dinner  of  fourteen  courses, 
but  every  course  was  the  same  old 
thing.  I  may  be  mistaken,  but  I  don't 
think  they  stick  to  this  very  ancient 
but  still  most  beautiful  design  be- 
cause they  haven't  heard  of  any  other; 
it  is  solely  because  it  is  simple  and 
chaste,  and  they  don't  want  any  other. 
Yet  it  seems  that  a  bunch  or  loose  ar- 
rangement of  roses  or  carnations  or 
orchids  would  be  a  relief  and  change 
from  the  everlasting  wreath. 

Our  best  people  (by  that  I  don't 
mean  necessarily  the  most  virtuous, 
but  the  people  of  wealth  and  refine- 
ment and  the  taste  and  education 
which  wealth  affords)  have  almost  en- 
tirely set  their  faces  against  the  elab- 
orate designs  that  were  used  by  all 
classes  twenty  years  ago.  Gates  ajar 
and  broken  columns  and  scrolls,  and 
even  crosses  and  anchors  are  never 
seen  or  ordered  by  that  class  who  lead 
in  fashion,  and  depend  upon  it  the 
other  strata  of  society  will  copy  and 
emulate  the  well-to-do  as  they  do  in 
every  particular  where  their  means 
can  possibly  reach. 

Floral  arrangements  for  the  more 
refined  are  almost  entirely  now  limited 
to  loose  arrangements.  Cycas  leaves, 
two  or  three  dozen  roses,  lily  of  the 
valley,  a  bunch  of  Roman  hyacinths. 
A  wreath  is  often  used,  but  it  is  usual- 
ly some  distinct  design.  Ivy  leaves 
with  lily  of  the  valley  or  all  valley, 
orchids,  or  all  roses,  or  valley  and  vio- 
lets, or  all  violets.  And  in  many  cases 
the  above  flowers  are  bought  and  sent 
to  the  house  of  mourning  simply  with 
a  card  and  loosely  in  a  box. 

It  would  be  absurd  for  the  florist  to 
discourage  the  use  of  large  designs 
where  they  are  wanted,  and  in  case  of 
societies  who  wish  to  send  a  design  to 
a  late  brother  or  sister  there  is  noth- 
ing but  a  large  design  to  send,  and  the 
catering  to  this  class  of  business  is 
quite  lucrative  with  many.  Where  the 
design  is  a  pillow,  broken  column,  an- 
chor or  scroll,  there  is  room  for  a  dis- 
play of  skill  and  art,  but  where  the  de- 
sign represents  the  calling  of  the  de- 
parted there  is  no  art,  it  is  merely 


Low  Basket  of  Violets  and  Small  Ferns. 


JOO 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


A  Laurel  Wreath  with  Cycas  Leaves. 


mechanical,  bad  taste  and  bound  to 
sink  into  disuse.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  beautiful  such  a  thing  as  a  fire- 
man's hat,  a  locomotive,  a  safe,  a  gun, 
a  desk;  or  in  case  of  a  brewer,  a  quar- 
ter barrel  keg.  There  is  no  skill  in 
making  those  designs;  the  wire  work- 
er is  the  only  man  who  exercised  any 
skill;  putting  the  flowers  into  the  mon- 
strosities is  no  more  than  putting  on 
an  overcoat;  the  tailor  is  the  man 
who  had  the  skill;  if  you  depart  from 
the  lines  laid  down  by  the  frame  you 
spoil  the  imitation. 

There  is  a  wonderful  change  in  the 
material  used  since  the  days  of  bal- 
sams and  hollyhocks,  when  a  design 
resembled  a  clipped  sheep,  with  a  Saf- 
rano  bud  here  and  there  raised  above 
the  surface  a  fraction  over  the  rest; 
and  tuberoses  were  a  very  important 
flower.  Funeral  designs  are  now  made 
with  great  taste.  Fine  flowers  are 
used  and  color  is  not  forbidden.  No 


longer  do  we  see  the  solemn  whiteness 
in  bunches  or  designs,  or  any  arrange- 
ments. Why  should  we?  I  think  the 
fashion  of  white  flowers  is  as  absurd 
as  the  deep  mourning  assumed  by 
many.  A  long  black  veil  only  attracts 
notice  and  attention,  and  surely  the 
broken-hearted  and  sincere  mourner 
does  not  want  to  attract  attention. 

The  crowding  of  flowers  in  a  design 
is  no  longer  permissible.  Every  flower 
should  if  possible  show  its  individual- 
ity. The  whole  should  blend  and  every 
flower  and  leaf  should  be  fresh  and 
spotlessly  clean.  And  let  me  add  in 
conclusion  that  when  you  take  an  or- 
der for  a  design  and  promise  it  at  a 
certain  hour  see  that  it  is  delivered  on 
time.  Punctuality  gets  a  large  credit 
mark  in  the  public  favor. 

FREESIA. 

These  graceful,  fragrant  flowers  are 
of  the  easiest  culture.  The  bulbs  are 
now  sold  remarkably  cheap,  cheaper 
in  fact  than  you  can  save  them.  The 
species  called  refracta  and  refracta 
alba  are  mostly  grown.  The  latter  is 
pure  white,  without  the  yellow  blotch 
in  the  throat.  We  too  often  plant  a 
large  lot  of  freesia  bulbs  at  one  time, 
thus  having  more  than  our  demand 
makes  profitable.  You  receive  the 
bulbs  in  July,  and  every  two  or  three 
weeks  a  few  hundred  can  be  started. 

Their  treatment  is  entirely  different 
from  the  so-called  Dutch  bulbs,  and 
sometimes  mistakes  are  made.  We 
usually  plant  seven  to  nine  bulbs  in  a 
5-inch  pot.  Put  the  bulb  a  little  under 
the  surface  and  place  the  pots  in  a 
cold-frame.  Later  batches  you  will 
start  inside.  The  pots  want  no  cover- 
ing of  any  kind,  as  the  top  and  roots 
start  together.  Water  moderately  till 
the  foliage  is  well  developed.  When 
the  pots  are  full  of  roots  they  should 
not  suffer  for  water.  They  like  a  tem- 
perature of  about  50  degrees  at  night 
and  should  always  have  the  fullest 
light. 

A  good  loam  with  some  well  rotted 
manure  or  leaf-mold  will  grow  them; 


Hamper  filled  with  Violets,  Heath  and  Adiantum  Ferns. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Shipped  in  any  quantity,  from 

1UOO  to  100,000  at  a  time. 
Write  for  prices. 

FINE  LAUREL  FESTOONING,  $5  per  100  yards. 

FINE  LAUREL  WREATHS.  PRINCESS   PINE 

WREATHS,  for  Xmas  and  Decorations. 
FLOWERING  LAUREL,  50c  per  bunch,  extra 
nice.    Galax  Leaves,  Mosses,  Etc.,  Etc. 

GROWL  FERN  CO.,    Millington,  Mass. 

Telegraph  office,  New  Salem,  Mass. 


cyr^g 


LOWERS 


ROSES,  CARNATIONS. 

LILIES,  SMILAX,   ETC. 

Always  fresh  of  our  own  growing. 
Send  for  cut  flower  price  list. 

J.   L.   DILLON.     BLOOMSBURG.   PA. 

BENTHEY  &  CO. 


F.  F.  BENTHEY,  Mgr. 


WHOLESALE  AND 
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Consignments 
Solicited. 


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rrSs?nf  CUT   FLOWERS 

Greenhouses  at  Hinsdale,  III. 


GEO.  A.  KUHL, 

WHOLESALE 

ROSES,  CARNATIONS, 
MUMS  AND  SMILAX, 

PEKIIM,   ILL. 


<^.<*^.<*^.<*^.<*^.<*^.<*^.1*^.'*^^ 

McKellar  &  Winterson, 


Wholesale 
Commission 

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WE  HAVE  THE  LARGEST  WHOLESALE  HOUSE  IN  CHICAGO. 


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Long  Distance  Phone,  Seneca  620. 


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Cut  Flowers  and  Florists'  Supplies. 

Manufacturer  of  the  Patent  Wire  Clamp  Floral 
Designs.  A  full  line  of  Supplies  always  on 
hand.  Write  for  catalogue  and  prices. 

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I  HAVE  IT!  *HAT? 

ANYTHING  IN  FLOWERS.... 
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Wholesale  Florist, 
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book,  at  15  cents  a  square  inch. 

FLORISTS'  PUB.  CO., 
Caxton  Building,  CHICAGO. 


For  weekly  hints  on  the  latest  in  the  arrangement  of 
Flowers,  consult  the  "Retail  Florist'  department  in  the  Flor- 
ists' Review,  issued  weekly  at  $J*00  a  year,  by  the 

FLORISTS'  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

520-535  Caxton  Building.  CHICAGO, 


102 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


do  not  give  them  poor,  worn-out  soil 
as  you  can  a  tulip. 

Pots  that  have  flowered  can  be  stored 
away  after  the  foliage  is  ripe  and  the 
bulbs  shaken  out  and  started  again  the 
following  fall,  but  as  stated  above  the 
bulbs  are  now  produced  so  fine  and 
cheap  that  it  is  better  to  buy  every 
year.  Freesias  will  endure  a  few  de- 
grees of  frost  without  any  harm,  but 
don't  let  the  dry  bulbs  freeze  when 
out  of  the  ground. 

FUCHSIA. 

Plants  that  have  been  grown  in 
greenhouses  for  more  than  a  century, 
and  a  favorite  with  all.  There  are  a 
great  many  species,  mostly  all  from 
South  America,  but  the  true  species 
are  now  seldom  seen.  The  hybrid  va- 
rieties are  those  of  the  commercial 
florists,  and  firms  that  make  a  special  - 
ty  of  soft-wooded  plants  are  con- 
tinually sending  out  new  varieties. 
Many  of  my  readers  will  remember  old 
Fuchsia  fulgens,  with  its  clustered  ra- 
ceme of  flowers  at  the  end  of  the 
shoots;  and  many  are  also  acquainted 
with  F.  macrostema;  both  true  spe- 
cies, but  very  unlike. 

In  the  milder  parts  of  Great  Britain 
you  will  see  such  varieties  as  Rose  of 
Castile  trained  up  the  front  of  veran- 
das as  we  do  clematis,  showing  that 
they  withstand  a  good  freezing,  and 
many  of  the  species  are  treated  as 
hardy  shrubs,  the  winter  killing  the 
tops,  but  the  plant  makes  a  strong 
growth  again  in  the  spring,  just  as 
our  basket  willows  are  cut  down  and 
an  annual  growth  is  made.  Where  the 
thermometer  does  not  go  below  15  de- 
grees these  species  will  winter  very 
well.  We  treat  the  fuchsia  as  a  very 
short-lived  plant,  seldom  growing  the 
plant  more  than  one  year,  but  in  its 
native  Andes  it  is  a  shrub,  or  even 
small  tree. 

With  us  fuchsias  are  often  used  for 
summer  bedding,  but  they  never  can 
be  any  part  of  a  formal  flower  garden 
because  they  would  conform  with  no 
other  beds.  Nor  will  they  thrive  in 
the  broad  sun.  Behind  buildings  or 
hedges  or  where  they  will  get  only  the 
morning  sun,  and  where  they  are  no 
part  of  any  design,  they  make  very 
pleasing  beds.  The  soil  should  be 
deep  and  rich  and  where  the  hose  can 
reach  them  a  number  of  varieties  can 
be  used;  one-year-old  plants  are  al- 
ways better  for  this  purpose  than  the 
spring  struck  plants.  Plants  that  have 
been  wintered  almost  dormant  and 
bedded  out  in  early  May  before  they 
are  started  will  be  much  surer  of  suc- 
cess than  plants  out  of  a  warm  green- 
house. 

Thousands  of  fuchsias  are  sold  in 
our  cities  during  April  and  May  and 
used  up  among  the  class  of  people 
who  want  a  few  plants  for  their  win- 
dow. The  latest  arrivals  from  Europe 
are  the  largest  consumers  of  fuchsias. 
Plants  should  be  selected  or  obtained 
in  the  spring,  not  later  than  May,  and 
grown  on  carefully.  By  July  they, 
should  be  at  their  best.  In  July  these 
plants  should  be  plunged  outside  in 


Wreath  of  Laurel  with  Lilacs  and  Cycas  Leaves. 


the  sun,  or  only  partial  shade.  They 
will  grow  very  little  more,  but  will 
ripen  their  wood.  Leave  them  out  of 
doors  till  after  the  first  very  slight 
frost.  By  that  time  (say  middle  of  Oc- 
tober) the  shoots  will  be  ripe  and  the 
leaves  off.  Bring  them  in  and  for  two 
weeks  they  can  stand  in  a  cool  shed, 
or  be  laid  under  a  bench. 

By  November  1st  shorten  back  the 
lateral  growths  to  firm,  ripe  wood  and 
start  them  in  a  house  at  55  to  60  de- 
grees. Syringe  daily.  Soon  you  will 
see  signs  of  new  growth,  when  they 
should  be  shaken  out  and  repotted  in 
fresh  soil  and  in  two  or  three  weeks 
you  will  get  your  first  batch  of  cut- 
tings, and  successive  lots  to  the  fol- 
lowing February.  That  is  as  late  as 
you  can  propagate  fuchsias  and  make 
plants  that  are  any  goo.d  that  summer. 
Few  cuttings  root  more  freely  than 
fuchsias.  With  the  sand  at  70  and  the 
atmosphere  at  55  you  will  root  just 
five-score  fop  every  100  cuttings  you 
put  in. 

Fuchsias  when  grown  in  pots  want 
a  very  rich  soil;  two  parts  loam,  one 
part  rotten  manure  and  one  part  leaf- 
mold  will  grow  them  finely.  Pot  fair- 
ly firm,  but  not  as  solid  as  you  would 


with  geraniums.  Fifty  to  fifty-five  de- 
grees at  night  is  about  right.  An  abun- 
dance of  water,  daily  syringing  and  a 
shade  from  the  hottest  suns  in  April 
and  May  is  the  treatment. 

Most  of  our  fuchsias  are  sold  in  4 
and  5-inch  pots.  From  the  cutting  bed 
to  a  2^-inch  and  from  that  to  a  4-inch 
and  from  that  to  a  5-inch.  With  some 
varieties  (such  a  one  was  old  Elm 
City)  they  were  allowed  to  go  straight 
up  and  the  plant  formed  a  most  sym- 
metrical pyramid  shape,  but  few  of 
the  varieties  will  do  that,  and  they  are 
generally  pinched  when  a  few  inches 
high,  which  gives  them  two  or  three 
leading  shoots  and  makes  a  more  com- 
pact plant.  Some  varieties  can  be 
stopped  the  second  time,  which  makes 
them  fine  little  bushes. 

In  selecting  varieties  see  that  they 
are  good  growers  and  of  a  good  habit; 
that  is  everything.  Raisers  of  new 
varieties  have  produced  some  enor- 
mous double  flowers,  both  white  and 
purple  or  red  corollas,  but  the  plants 
are  not  good.  Broadly  it  may  be  said 
that  in  producing  the  double  corolla 
you  have  added  nothing  to  the  beauty 
of  the  fuchsia.  Many  of  the  single 
varieties  have  the  most  grace  and 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


103 


beauty  and  are  usually  the  finest  grow- 
ers. 

Plants  that  are  wanted  for  outside 
beds  should  be  wintered  over  in  pots 
in  a  very  cool,  light  cellar  or  cool 
house  and  given  only  water  enough  to 
keep  them  from  shriveling.  Large 
specimens  that  are  wanted  for  summer 
use  are  also  wintered  very  cool,  short- 
ened back  in  the  spring,  mulched  or 
shifted  and  started  growing  slowly. 
Our  hot  summers  are  against  fuchsias. 

Varieties  are  innumerable.  Mr.  E.  G. 
Hill,  of  Richmond,  Ind.,  and  others  im- 
port yearly  all  the  newer  varieties  and 
test  their  merits  for  our  climate. 

A  leading  establishment  describes 
the  following: 

Double  Varieties. 

Cervantes:  Purple  corolla,  crimson 
sepals. 

Phenominal:  Dark  plum  color,  great 
size. 

Mme.  Thibaut:  White  corolla,  crim- 
son sepals. 

Molesworth:  White  corolla,  crimson 
sepals. 

Storm  King:  White  corolla,  scarlet 
sepals. 

Pres.  Carnot:  Mauve  corolla,  crim- 
son sepals. 

Single  Varieties. 

Annie  Earle:  Carmine  corolla,  white 
sepals. 

Beacon:  Carmine  corolla,  scarlet  se- 
pals. 

Brilliant:  Scarlet  corolla,  white  se- 
pals. 

Earl  of  Beaconsfield:  Orange  corol- 
la and  sepals. 

Mrs.  Marshall:  Carmine  corolla, 
white  sepals. 

Speciosa:  Orange  scarlet  corolla, 
white  sepals;  an  old  but  standard  vari- 
ety and  one  of  the  very  best  for  use  in 
veranda  boxes  or  beds. 

Black  Prince:  Corolla  and  sepals 
carmine.  This  is  a  grand  market  vari- 
ety; the  best  of  growers,  fine  habit, 
and  a  profuse  bloomer. 

Fuchsias  should  be  used  in  vases 
and  veranda  boxes  only  where  the  sun 
reaches  them  for  but  a  few  hours  dur- 
ing the  day.  They  may  look  attractive 
when  first  put  in  a  vase,  but  are  soon 
leafless  stalks  without  shade  and  plen- 
ty of  water. 

FUNGICIDES  AND  INSECTICIDES. 

If  it  were  not  for  our  enemies  the 
aphides,  spider,  thrip,  mealy  bug  and 
many  other  minute  animals,  with  the 
low  plant  organisms,  the  mildews, 
rusts,  etc.,  our  calling  would  be  com- 
paratively easy,  and  we  are  not  the 
only  ones.  The  fruit  grower,  market 
gardener  and  farmer  all  have  their 
foes,  compelling  us  to  keep  up  a  con- 
tinual watch  and  fight  against  their  at- 
tacks. 

It  is  really  half  the  battle  to  keep 
our  minute  enemies  at  bay,  but  think 
what  would  be  the  consequence  if 
there  were  no  greenfly  or  red  spider, 
no  mildew  or  rust.  What  would  be 
the  profits  of  flower  growing?  It 
would  be  small,  for  every  careless  fel- 


low would  have  what  is  called  "Good 
luck."  As  it  is  it  is  not  good  luck  but 
good  reward  for  continual  care,  watch- 
fulness and  industry.  Perhaps  it  is 
just  as  well  as  it  is,  for  although  you 
can  scarcely  imagine  in  a  past  or  fu- 
ture paradise  that  white  scale  will 
trouble  the  orange  trees,  or  some  fu- 
ture Eve  will  have  to  apply  kerosene 
emulsion  for  mealy  bug,  the  present 
time  is  one  that  rewards  the  gardener 
for  his  industry  and  faithfulness  to  his 
duty,  and  no  little  part  of  his  thoughts 
are  taken  up  repelling  the  attacks  of 
the  many  afflictions  he  is  heir  to  in 
the  fungoid  and  insect  line. 

Peter  Henderson  wrote  more  than 
thirty  years  ago  that  the  least  excus- 
able of  the  gardener's  failings  was  al- 
lowing his  plants  to  become  infested 
with  aphis,  because  it  was  easily  reme- 
died. Quite  right.  Yet  you  see  men 
today  walk  through  their  carnation 
houses  where  every  shoot  is  covered 
with  aphis.  If  any  remark  is  made  the 
reply  is  usually:  "Yes,  I  must  smoke." 
Or:  "I  am  all  out  of  stems.  I  must 
get  some."  Alas,  the  greenfly  is  the 
least  to  be  dreaded.  It  succumbs  to 
tobacco  in  several  forms.  Not  so  with 
all  our  insects  and  as  for  the  mildews 


and  rusts  it  is  more  the  condition  of 
the  plant  that  we  must  improve  than 
to  combat  the  diseases.  Keep  the  plant 
vigorous  and  its  environments  right 
and  the  mildew  and  rust  will  not  ap- 
pear. 

Some  years  ago  I  attempted  to  grow 
Mermet  roses  in  a  house  that  could  not 
on  cold  nights  be  kept  at  over  50  de- 
grees, and  very  cold  nights  perhaps  not 
over  47  degrees.  I  did  not  pick  many 
roses,  but  the  plants  looked  healthy. 
One  morning  I  discovered  the  end  ven- 
tilator open  six  inches  and  the  ther- 
mometer down  to  10  degrees  outside. 
I  thought  to  myself  frost  inside  sure, 
if  not,  then  a  good  dose  of  mildew.  It 
was  nearly  a  frost,  but  not  a  sign  of 
mildew  appeared.  The  plants  were 
making  a  slow,  firm  growth  and  could 
stand  the  chill  they  got.  If  the  house 
had  been  kept  steadily  at  58  or  60  de- 
grees mildew  would  have  appeared  for 
certain.  The  above  is  not  quoted  to 
instruct  you  in  rose  growing  by  any 
means. 

Man  and  other  animals  hate  a 
draught  and  so  do  plants.  Man  can 
stand  for  a  while  in  a  gale  of  wind 
and  the  mercury  at  zero  with  no  more 
damage  than  cold  fingers  and  chilled 


•  Cross  of  Eucharis  Flowers. 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


nose,  but  let  him  sit  in  a  warm  room 
with  a  draught  of  cold  air  on  him, 
even  if  it  is  only  a  few  degrees  cooler 
than  the  room,  and  the  result  is  often 
pneumonia.  And  so,  I  believe,  it  is 
with  plants,  and  why  not? 

In  no  part  of  the  exercise  of  our 
business  is  the  old  adage,  "Prevention 
is  better  than  cure,"  so  true  as  it  is 
with  our  minute  enemies.  With  the 
fungoids  that  come  because  the  vital- 
ity of  the  plant  is  checked,  guard 
against  any  neglect,  day  and  night, 
and  with  the  insects  that  will  attack 
our  plants  even  in  the  best  of  health 
apply  your  remedies  regularly,  not  to 
cure  but  to  prevent. 

The  formulas  for  several  of  the  fol- 
lowing solutions  and  fungicides  are 
copied  from  the  bulletin  issued  by  the 
Cornell  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, by  E.  G.  Lodeman,  February. 
1895,  a  copy  of  which  all  growers 
should  avail  themselves  of. 

Bordeaux  Mixture. 

Copper  sulphate,  6  Ibs. 

Quicklime,  4  Ibs. 

Water,  40  to  50  gallons. 

Dissolve  the  copper  sulphate  by  put- 
ting it  in  a  bag  or  coarse  cloth  and 
hanging  this  in  a  vessel  holding  at 
least  four  gallons,  so  that  it  is  just 
covered  by  the  water.  Use  an  earthen 
or  wooden  vessel.  Slake  the  lime  in  an 
equal  quantity  of  water,  then  mix  the 
two  and  add  water  enough  to  make  40 
gallons.  It  is.  then  ready  for  immedi- 
ate use,  but  will  keep  indefinitely, 
to  be  used  on  young,  tender  leaves,  it 
is  advisable  to  add  an  extra  pound  of 
lime  to  the  formula.  When  applied  to 
such  plants  as  carnations  it  will  ad- 
here better  to  the  leaves  if  about  one 
pound  of  hard  soap  is  dissolved  and 
added  to  the  mixture. 

The  above  is  for  rots,  moulds,  mil- 
dews and  fungous  diseases. 

Ammoniacal  Copper  Carbonate. 

Copper  carbonate,  1  oz. 

Ammonia  enough  to  dissolve  the 
copper. 

Water,  9  gallons. 

The  copper  carbonate  is  best  dis- 
solved in  large  bottles,  when  it  will 
keep  indefinitely,  and  diluted  with 
water  as  required.  Used  for  the  same 
purpose  as  Bordeaux  mixture. 

Copper  Sulphate  Solution. 

Copper  sulphate,  1  Ib. 

Water,  15  gallons. 

Dissolve  the  copper  in  the  water, 
when  it  is  ready  for  use.  This  should 
not  be  used  on  any  foliage,  but  can  be 
used  on  the  wood  of  trees  and  shrubs 
before  the  buds  start. 

Paris  Green. 

Paris  green,  1  Ib. 

Water,  200  gallons. 

This  will  do  for  poisoning  all  insects 
that'  chew,  such  as  caterpillars  and 
worms.  We  have  found  that  in  apply- 
ing the  paris  green  it  was  necessary 
to  add  something  to  make  the  solution 
stick  to  the  leaves,  and  you  can  use 
with  the  above  quantities  two  or  three 


pounds  of  hard  soap,  dissolved,  or  add 
two  quarts  of  the  Rose  Leaf  extract  of 
tobacco,  which  is  of  a  sticky  nature. 

London  Purple. 

This  can  be  used  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  paris  green.  To  make  this 
safer  to  use  on  the  foliage  of  chrysan- 
themums add  one  pound  of  slaked 
lime.  This  also  is  for  insects  that 
chew. 

Florists  do  not  always  remember  the 
distinction  between  the  chewers  and 
suckers.  The  aphides  bore  into  the 
tissue  of  plants  and  suck  the  juices, 
and  although  they  may  be  drenched 
with  the  paris  green  solution  would 
feel  no  ill  effects  from  it.  The  worms 
and  caterpillars  eat  the  surface  of  the 
leaves  and  must  consequently  get  the 
poison  into  their  stomachs. 

Hellebore. 

Fresh  white  hellebore,  1  ounce. 

Water,  3  gallons. 

Apply  when  thoroughly  mixed.  This 
poison  is  not  so  energetic  as  arsenites 
and  may  be  used  on  the  more  tender 
growths  for  insects  that  chew. 

Kerosene  Emulsion. 

Hard  soap,  *A  Ib. 

Boiling  water,  1  gallon. 

Kerosene,  2  gallons. 

Dissolve  the  soap  in  the  water  by 
cutting  into  thin  slices;  add  the  kero- 
sene and  agitate  with  a  syringe  till 
thoroughly  mixed.  In  this  condition, 
when  cool,  it  will  become  of  the  con- 
sistency of  sour  milk  and  may  be  kept 
indefinitely.  Dilute  twenty  to  thirty 
times  with  water  when  applying.  Use 
strong  emulsion  for  all  scale  insects. 

This  is  used  for  all  insects  that  suck, 
as  green,  black  and  yellow  fly  (the  lat- 
ter the  most  troublesome  on  chrysan- 
themums), mealy  bugs,  red  spider, 
thrips,  and  all  worms  with  soft  bodies 
will  succumb  to  this. 

It  should,  however,  be  always  used 
with  caution.  It  is  best  to  try  the 
weakest  emulsion  first. 

Hydrocyanic  Acid  Gas. 

Water,  1  quart. 

Sulphuric  acid,  1  quart. 

Cyanide  of  potash,  5  oz. 

The  above  quantities  are  right  for 
1,000  cubic  feet  of  air  space  in  your 
houses,  and  measurements  and  quan- 
tities must  be  accurate.  As  many 
thousand  cubic  feet  of  air  as  your 
house  contains,  so  many  vessels  you 
must  have.  Butter  jars  are  the  best 
for  the  purpose  and  they  should  be 
placed  on  the  floor  of  the  house,  not 
among  or  near  the  plants.  The  house 
must  be  shut  down  closely  and  must 
be  opened  again  in  half  an  hour. 

As  this  gas  is  very  deadly  you  must 
contrive  to  let  the  cyanide  down 
through  a  small  hole  in  the  glass,  or 
through  a  crack  in  the  ventilator.  As 
the  5  oz.  parcel  is  a  small  affair  a  very 
thin  piece  of  string  attached  will  do. 
We  suspend  the  cyanide  to  the  end  of 
the  string,  as  many  as  required,  and 
divided  equally  in  the  house.  Beneath 
place  the  jars,  each  containing  1  quart 


of  the  acid;  then  add  1  quart  of  water, 
and  when  each  jar  is  ready  the  cyanide 
of  potash  is  lowered  into  the  jars.  An 
explosion,  as  it  may  be  called,  imme- 
diately follows,  the  gas  is  generated  in- 
stantly, and  that  is  why  you  would 
not  dare  to  be  in  the  house,  for  you 
would  stop  breathing  in  an  instant. 
This  gas  is  death  to  every  insect  that 
breathes,  and  does  not  hurt  the  most 
tender  foliage. 

Mr.  Saltford.  of  Poughkeepsie,  who 
gave  me  the  formula,  showed  me  a 
Maidenhair  fern  that  was  in  perfect 
health  that  had  frequently  been  ex- 
posed to  the  gas.  I  used  the  gas  sev- 
eral times  last  winter  on  violets  with 
the  best  results. 

As  compared  with  tobacco  smoke  it 
is  quite  expensive  and  some  trouble  to 
apply,  but  if  it  saves  a  crop  of  violets 
from  the  ravages  of  that  minute  fly 
that  punctures  the  leaf,  laying  an  egg 
which  destroys  the  tissue  of  the  leaf 
and  produces  what  we  call  curl  leaf, 
it  is  certainly  worth  ten  times  the  cost 
and  labor.  It  is  applied  principally  to 
destroy  the  almost  invisible  insects  so 
injurious  to  violets,  but  while  doing 
that  it  utterly  destroys  green  fly,  red 
spider,  centipedes  and  all  else  that 
breathes.  It  leaves  no  objectionable 
odor. 

Have  the  jar  in  which  you  generate 
the  gas  four  times  as  large  as  the  mix- 
ture of  water  and  acid,  and  when  pur- 
chasing the  cyanide  of  potash  have 
each  5  oz.  package  well  wrapped  in 
double  paper. 

Sulphur. 

Sulphur  in  different  forms  is  the 
great  antidote  for  fungus,  and  our 
chief  rose  enemy,  the  mildew,  is  a 
fungus.  The  flour  of  sulphur  is  often 
dusted  on  the  plants.  This  is  perhaps 
the  least  useful  method,  and  sulphur 
should  never  be  allowed  to  reach  the 
soil.  It  is  sometimes  sprinkled  on  the 
pipes,  and  sometimes  placed  in  shallow 
pans  and  placed  where  the  rays  of  the 
sun  will  strike  it,  as  when  at  a  high 
temperature  it  gives  off  its  fumes  that 
destroy  the  spores  of  the  fungus. 

I  think  it  is  most  beneficial,  most 
easily  applied,  and  the  least  harmful 
to  the  plants  when  it  is  mixed  with 
linseed  oil  and  painted  on  the  pipes. 
Don't  overdo  it.  Where  there  are  eight 
or  ten  hot  water  pipes,  or  twenty 
small  steam  pipes,  paint  the  upper 
surface  of  one  pipe;  -that  will  be  suffi- 
cient. We  think  the  oil  does  some 
good  with  the  sulphur.  This  is  an  ex- 
cellent preventive  of  mildew. 

Sulphur  is  sometimes  burnt  on  hot 
bricks  or  an  old  shovel  made  red  hot. 
I  have  done  it  and  it  is  of  course  a 
very  effective  way  of  applying  the 
deadly  fumes,  but  you  must  be  very 
careful  and  directly  the  odor  of  sul- 
phur is  plainly  noted  you  must  move 
on  a  few  yards.  When  the  carnation 
rust  was  at  its  worst  a  few  years  ago 
we  burnt  a  great  deal  of  sulphur  in 
the  houses  when  they  were  entirely 
empty  in  the  month  of  August.  We 
made  it  strong  enough  to  kill  a  Kil- 
kenny cat  and  trust  it  killed  all  the 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J05 


spores  and  germs  of  the  rust  and  other 
fungous  diseases. 

Sulphide  of  potassium,  known  as 
"liver  of  sulphur,"  is  a  good  prevent- 
ive and  possibly  a  cure  for  mildew.  I 
have  used  it  dissolved  in  water  and 
then  mixed  with  clay  till  it  was  the 
consistency  of  molasses,  and  on  the 
pipes  put  a  dab  of  the  paint  here  and 
there,  say  every  three  feet.  It  is 
stronger  than  the  common  sulphur.  Or 
the  roses  can  be  syringed  with  it;  1 
Ib.  in  50  gallons  of  water. 

Tobacco. 

What  could  we  do  in  the  absence  of 
this  wonderful  weed?  As  a  luxury  it 
is  possibly  dispensable,  and  so  are  tea 
and  coffee,  but  as  an  insecticide  it  is 
a  great  essential.  Till  we  find  some- 
thing better  it  is  the  great  cure-all 
of  many  a  florist's  establishment. 
Where  fumigation  is  not  possible  or 
permissible,  as  in  conservatories  at- 
tached to  dwelling  houses,  it  is  used 
as  dust  or  in  the  liquid  form,  but 
"smoking,"  as  the  gardener  calls  it, 
is  the  way  it  is  universally  applied; 
most  effective  and  cheapest. 

Most  florists  in  or  near  a  large  town 
get  their  stems  from  the  cigarmaker 
and  pay  for  them  with  a  plant  occa- 
sionally sent  to  Mrs.  Havana  Filler. 
If  you  have  to  purchase  the  stems  they 
cost  little.  Every  florist  knows  his 
own  way  of  fumigating.  I  for  one  don't 
)elieve  in  placing  it  on  the  floor  to 
burn  itself  out.  I  prefer  it  in  an  iron 
or  galvanized  iron  vessel  that  can  be 
moved  along.  If  you  can't  stand  the 
smoke,  learn  to;  go  to  a  New  York 
Florists'  "smoker,"  and  after  that  you 
will  survive  not  only  tobacco  smoke 
nit  the  fumes  of  sulphur.  Tobacco 
stems  get  very  dry  in  our  sheds  and 
are  apt  to  flare  if  not  moistened.  The 
stems  should  be  shaken  out  a  few 
hours  before  you  intend  to  smoke  and 
sprinkled.  They  will  then  be  moist, 
without  being  wet. 

How  thick  or  dense  tobacco  smoke 
should  be  is  a  matter  of  experience.  It 
s  experience  that  allows  us  to  endure 
it  when  it  is  so  thick  you  can  scarcely 
see  your  hand  before  you,  and  would 
quickly  suffocate  the  tenderfoot.  Light- 
y  and  often  is  the  motto  always  to 
'ollow.  This  has  been  often  preached 
aefore,  yet  how  true  and  wise  it  is. 
Don't  wait  to  see  three  generations  of 
green  fly  sucking  the  life  blood  out  of 
vour  plants,  but  have  a  day  to  smoke 
and  remember  that  day,  or  rather 
night,  to  keep  it  smoky. 

There  are  a  few  plants  that  are  eas- 
ily injured  by  tobacco  smoke,  and 
plants  having  flowers  with  thin  single 
petals  should  not  be  exposed  to  fumi- 
ation  when  in  flower.  Those  plants 
that  are  hurt  by  tobacco  smoke  will 
be  noted  in  their  respective  cultural 
directions. 

I  never  noticed  that  it  was  any  in- 
jury to  carnations  except  that  it  de- 
stroyed their  odor  and  left  in  its  place 
that  of  stale  tobacco,  which  will  last 
on  the  flowers  for  twenty-four  hours. 
There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  about 
.ts  effect  on  roses  that  are  producing 


buds.  Some  large  growers  say  they 
fumigate  and  see  no  harm,  but  the 
majority  of  good  rose  growers  keep 
down  the  aphis  by  other  methods,  and 
the  writer  sides  with  the  latter.  I  have 
on  many  occasions  seen  the  petals  of 
our  best  tea  roses,  Brides  and  Brides- 
maids, malformed  and  discolored  from 
no  cause  but  tobacco  smoke. 

Rose  growers  who  use  steam  have 
tin  vessels  which  hold  one  or  two  bush- 
els of  tobacco  stems.which  are  chopped 
up  as  a  hay  cutter  would  cut  them. 
Into  the  bottom  of  this  tin  vessel 
runs  a  half-inch  steam  pipe.  You  can 
have  as  many  of  them  as  your  house 
requires.  When  the  steam  is  turned 
on  a  dense  vapor  fills  the  house,  which 
of  course  contains  nicotine.  This  is 
an  effectual  way  of  killing  the  fly,  but 
is  objected  to  by  some  as  producing  a 
soft  growth  on  the  roses,  and  vaporiz- 
ing the  extracts  of  tobacco  is  preferred 
by  many. 

Some  growers  profess  to  keep  down 
the  aphis  by  strewing  the  stems  on  the 
pipes  and  paths,  or  laying  them  be- 
tween the  plants  in  bunches.  This  will 
keep  down  the  aphis  if  you  start  per- 
fectly clean  and  change  the  stems 
every  two  weeks,  but  it  will  not  kill 
the  fly  if  they  once  have  a  start. 

Although  tobacco  contains  the  nico- 
tine which  is  so  useful  yet  a  deadly 
poison,  the  stems  when  rotten  are  not 
in  the  least  injurious  to  the  soil.  I 
have  seen  tons  of  decayed  tobacco 
stems  plowed  into  the  land  which  pro- 
duced fine  crops. 

Tobacco  Extracts. 

The  Rose  Leaf  extract  is  now  largely 
used  and  saves  the  florist  the  trouble 
of  making  his  own  solution  out  of  the 
stems,  and  it  is  doubtless  better.  It 
can  be  used  diluted  75  times  and  will 
rid  plants  of  aphis,  red  spider  and 
thrip.  Rose  growers  who  heat  with 
hot  water  and  can't  vaporize  as  de- 
scribed above  can  use  this  extract  to 
great  advantage.  In  a  20  or  22-foot 
house,  at  every  thirty  feet,  you  can 
place  a  pie  dish,  say  12x6  inches  and  6 
inches  deep.  Dilute  some  extract  in 
ten  parts  of  water  and  pour  into  the 
dishes  to  the  depth  of  one  inch.  Have 
some  old  pieces  of  iron,  8x4  inches  and 
2  or  3  inches  thick.  We  use  pieces  of 
old  railroad  iron  of  the  old  style,  cut 
into  8  or  9-inch  lengths.  These  are 
made  red  hot  in  the^  fire  and  carried 
with  the  help  of  a  *coal  scuttle  and 
tongs  to  the  dishes  on  the  walk,  and 
when  one  is  dropped  into  the  tobacco 
extract  there  is  directly  a  cloud  of 
vapor  which  is  very  effectual  in  kflling 
the  aphis,  and  of  no  possible  harm  to 
the  roses  unless  it  be  the  softening  of 
the  growth. 

The  vaporizing  of  the  extract  by  di- 
luting it  in  ten  parts  of  water  and 
placing  in  small  tin  troughs  that  are 
made  to  lay  on  the  upper  pipe  of  a 
steam  coil  is  .a  method  used  by  many 
growers  and  answers  the  purpose  well. 
The  tins  are  replenished  frequently 
and  while  you  have  steam  in  the  pipes 
evaporation  is  continuous.  It  "is  too 


NIKOTEEN 


MANU- 
FACTURED 
BY 
THE 


A  LIQUID 
INSECTICIDE. 

J50  Pounds  Tobacco  in 
One  Pint. 

Used  for  Fumigating  or 

Spraying  Indoors 

and  Out. 

Will  not  injure  the  most 
Sensitive  Blooms. 

Cost  Four  Cents  for  each 
600  feet  floor  space. 

Used  by  the  most  suc- 
cessful growers 
everywhere. 

All  Seedsmen  Sell  it. 


SK\BCIJRA  DIP 
COMPANY, 


CHICAGO  and 
ST.  LOUIS. 


"NICOMITE" 

(PATENT) 

VAPOR   INSECTICIDE. 

No  labor  required. 

Harmless  to  bloom  and  foliage. 

A  certain  killer  of 

RED  SPIDER,  -  GREEN  PLY, 

and  all  other  Insect  Pests. 

SOLD  BY  SEEDSMEN. 

THE  TOBACCO  WAREHOUSING 
AND  TRADING  COMPANY, 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. 


slight  to  any  more  than  just  notice, 
but  so  continuous  that  the  aphis  gets 
no  chance  to  thrive. 

The  extract  that  is  known  as  Niko- 
teen  answers  every  purpose  of  the 
Rose  Leaf  extract.  It  is  more  expen- 
sive by  the  gallon,  but  it  has  four 
times  the  strength  and  must  be  diluted 
four  times  as  much.  For  syringing 
for  spider  and  thrip  it  should  be  di- 
. luted  with  water  at  least  200  to  1.  It 
is  cleaner  and  better  to  handle  than 
the  Rose  Leaf. 

Fir  Tree  Oil. 

This  is  an  article  largely  used  to 
kill  the  brown  and  white  scale.  The 
latter  is  much  the  worst  to  contend 
with.  To  ten  gallons  of  water  add  a 
half  pint  of  the  oil.  If  the  water  is  at 


J06 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


a  temperature  of  100  degrees,  so  much 
the  better.  Large  palms  and  other 
plants  can  be  syringed  and  in  half  an 
hour  be  given  a  good  syringing  of 
clear  water,  when  most  of  the  scale 
will  be  destroyed.  Small  palms  can 
be  dipped  or  immersed  entirely  in  the 
water,  excepting,  of  course,  the  ball 
of  earth,  and  shortly  afterwards  syr- 
inged with  clear  water.  That  is  doing 
it  most  effectually. 

Palms  received  from  Europe  are 
often  infested  with  this  white  scale 
and  should  be  thoroughly  cleaned  be- 
fore placing  among  your  other  stock. 

"Water. 

There  are  many  compounds  and 
mixtures  advertised  and  sold  for  fungi- 
cides and  insecticides,  but  those  quot- 
ed will  about  fill  the  bill.  And  finally 
there  is  plain  pure  water,  properly  ap- 
plied. The  use  of  the  syringe  or  hose 
will  save  much  labor  and  expense  with 
insecticides  if  properly  applied.  Red 
spider,  thrip  or  mealy  bug  should 
never  be  seen  and  never  would  be  if  a 
good  gardener  handled  the  hose. 

All  the  patent  sprayers  and  hose  at- 
tachments are  not  worth  one  cent.  The 
forefinger  of  either  hand  is  a  marvel- 
ous attachment  and  can  guide  and  di- 
vide the  stream  of  water  in  any  form 
or  direction  you  choose.  You  can't 
talk  to  a  fellow  workman  and  intelli- 
gently and  faithfully  water  a  lot  of 
plants  in  pots,  much  less  syringe  them. 
Your  work  needs  all  your  thought  and 
attention,  and  I  will  conclude  this 
chapter  by  saying  that  a  man  who 
chatters  or  smokes  at  his  work  is  of 
little  use.  Work  in  work  hours,  give 
all  your  mind  to  your  work,  and  when 
the  noon  and  evening  hour  comes  you 
will  enjoy  the  rest  far  better  than  if 
you  had  been  discussing  your  mother- 
in-law  or  last  employer. 

GARDENIA. 

In  the  days  when  short  stemmed 
flowers  were  used  the  flowers  of  Gar- 
denia florida  were  much  prized. 
Flowers  are  often  sent  from  the 
southern  states,  but  by  the  time  they 
reach  our  northern  cities  they  are 
much  the  worse  for  the  journey  and 
useless.  They  would  not  pay  a  florist 
to  grow,  but  they  are  so  deliciously 
fragrant  that  well  grown  plants  are 
desirable  for  private  conservatories. 

The  gardenia  is  a  dwarf  evergreen 
shrub.  The  double  form  of  G.  florida, 
called  the  Cape  Jessamine,  resembles 
the  flower  of  a  small  camellia.  They 
are  propagated  from  sideshoots  of  the 
half  ripened  wood  in  early  spring  in 
a  strong  bottom  heat.  Grow  the  plants 
on  as  quickly  as  possible,  with  plenty 
of  heat  and  light.  A  good,  fibrous, 
open  loam  with  a  fifth  or  sixth  of  rot- 
ten cow  manure  and  leaf  mould  will 
do.  Let  the  drainage  be  perfect,  for 
they  want  a  liberal  allowance  of 
water,  especially  when  growing,  and 
should  be  daily  well  syringed  to  keep 
down  mealy  bug  and  red  spider. 

In  California  young  plants  are  plant- 
ed on  the  benches  under  glass,  each 


plant  having  a  little  mound  to  itself 
to  insure  perfect  drainage,  and  that  is 
necessary  where  so  much  syringing  is 
resorted  to.  If  grown  commercially 
young  plants  are  preferred,  but  large 
plants  can  be  grown  on. 

GERANIUM. 

All  the  geraniums  that  are  so  popu- 
lar with  us — the  show,  fancy,  ivy  leaf, 
tricolor,  zonal,  etc.,  are  botanically 
known  as  pelargoniums,  but  the  name 
geranium  is  so  firmly  and  popularly 
associated  with  our  favorite  bedding 
plants  that  it  would  be  absurd  for  me 
to  write  of  them  under  the  much  less 
familiar  name  of  pelargonium.  The 
show  and  fancy  pelargoniums  that  so 
strangely  are  known  to  some  people  as 
"Lady"  and  "Martha  Washingtons,"  I 
will  treat  under  their  proper  name. 

The  geranium  needs  no  introduction, 
for  if  there  is  a  plant  known  univer- 
sally by  everyone  it  is  the  geranium. 
Within  thirty  years  an  immense  im- 
provement has  taken  place,  both  in 
the  habit  of  the  plant  and  the  grand 
form  and  color  of  the  flower.  The 
earliest  double  ones  were  a  curiosity 
when  first  they  came  out,  but  they 
were  so  double  that  they  were  of  little 
use,  and  now  a  form  called  semi-double 
has  entirely  displaced  them.  The  semi- 
doubles  have  one  advantage,  the  petals 
are  not  knocked  off  by  a  rain  storm, 
and  they  have  also  a  disadvantage. 
Some  of  the  varieties,  although  excel- 
lent growers  and  remarkably  free 
flowering,  become  unsightly  by  the  in- 
ner florets  losing  color  or  decaying 
before  the  outside  florets  have  opened. 

The  single  varieties  are  still  most 
useful  for  bedding.  The  ivy  leaf  sec- 
tion have  been  improved  as  much  as 
the  zonals,  having  beautiful  semi- 
double  flowers,  and  now  we  have 
double  flowers  on  the  bronze  and  varie- 
gated type.  iSome  of  the  variegated 
kinds,  such  as  the  useful  "Mountain  of 
Snow,"  are  as  vigorous  as  the  zonals, 
and  so  are  the  yellow  and  bronze  varie- 
ties, but  the  tricolor  type  are  less  ro- 
bust. 

When  Peter  Greive  some  forty  years 
ago  raised  the  lovely  "Mrs.  Pollock"  it 
was  a  great  departure  from  any  other 
geranium.  I  have  seen  great  beds  of 
it,  or  rather  edgings  of  beds.  It  likes 
a  rich  soil  and  a  slight  shade.  It  will 
burn  up  and  grow  less  in  our  hot  suns 
with  the  ordinary  treatment  we  give 
the  flowering  zonals. 

Mme.  Salleroi  is  a  type  of  itself, 
forming  no  stems,  but  a  mass  of  short 
shoots  spring  from  the  crown  and  the 
plant  makes  a  compact  little  clump, 
very  suitable  for  edging. 

Propagation. 

When  planting  out  for  your  own 
stock  give  the  plants  plenty  of  room 
to  grow  and  do  not  crowd  or  the 
growths  will  be  soft  and  unsuitable 
for  cuttings.  Unless  the  season  is  very 
dry  geraniums  seldom  want  water,  and 
if  you  must  water  give  them  a  thor- 
ough soaking  and  then  hoe  before  the 
ground  bakes.  That  is  pretty  good  ad- 


vice to  apply  to  a  whole  lot  of  things. 
Keep  all  flowers  picked  off  as  soon  as 
they  are  fully  developed;  it  will  en- 
courage the  plants  to  grow. 

About  September  1st  take  off  your 
first  batch  of  cuttings  and  pot  firmly 
in  214-inch  pots.  A  cold-frame  will  do 
for  the  cuttings,  but  an  ordinary  bench 
is  just  as  good  and  less  liable  to  neg- 
lect. They  should  be  shaded  during 
the  hottest  hours  of  the  day  only,  and 
that  can  be  done  with  newspapers, 
which  is  better  than  any  fixed  shading 
because  on  dull  days  a  shading  would 
be  injurious. 

Potting  firmly  with  a  good  sifted 
loam  is  an  important  point.  Don't 
thumb  the  top  of  the  soil,  but  get 
your  finger  and  thumb  down  by  the 
side  of  the  cutting  like  a  wedge  and 
make  the  soil  around  the  base  of  the 
cutting  firm.  The  watering  will  take 
care'  of  the  surface  without  your  wast- 
ing any  time  with  your  thumbs. 

They  want  a  good,  thorough  water- 
ing when  first  potted;  after  that  only 
when  they  are  decidedly  on  the  dry 
side.  There  are  more  geraniums  go 
off  black  and  rotten  through  the  heat 
and  moisture  than  there  are  from  dry- 
ness.  In  a  month  most  of  them  will 
be  rooted,  and  when  they  commence  to 
make  new  leaves  they  should  be  stood 
over,  dry  leaves  rubbed  off  and  the 
surface  of  the  soil  stirred.  From  now 
on  you  will  have  to  treat  them  bar- 
barously to  keep  them  from  thriving. 

Why  you  should  wait  till  September 
1st  or  about  that  time  before  propa- 
gating is  because  earlier  propagation 
in  a  hot  spell  in  August  is  not  safe.  I 
have  seen  75  per  cent,  of  fine  cuttings 
turn  black  in  a  few  days  when  we  had 
very  warm  weather.  Any  kind  that 
you  were  very  short  of  can  be  propa- 
gated earlier,  but  it  would  be  safer  to 
put  them  in  the  sand. 

By  taking  off  all  the  leading  shoots 
thus  early  you  will  usually  by  middle 
of  October  get  another  good  lot  of  cut- 
tings, which  root  still  more  certainly. 
If  you  don't  have  time  for  another 
batch  these  plants  are  in  excellent 
shape  to  lift  and  pot  and  propagate 
during  winter. 

Florists  that  grow  a  variety  of 
plants  had  better  do  their  operations 
by  a  system,  and  our  system  is  to  get 
all  our  geraniums  propagated  in  the 
fall  without  need  of  lifting  old  plants. 
A  light  house  should  be  given  to  gera- 
niums; it  cannot  be  too  light  and  dry 
and  airy.  A  night  temperature  of  45 
degrees  will  bring  them  along  fast 
enough. 

After  our  holiday  trade  there  is  room 
to  spread  out,  and  then  our  geraniums 
get  a  shift  into  a  3-inch  pot.  It  is  not 
much  of  a  shift,  but  it  makes  a  great 
difference  to  the  plants.  About  Feb- 
ruary 1st  they  have  made  good  roots 
in  the  new  pots  and  then  we  stand 
them  over,  taking  off  all  the  tops  that 
will  make  a  cutting,  and  those  that 
are  not  long  enough  we  just  pinch  out 
the  center.  The  cuttings  from  the 
tops  of  these  3-inch  plants  will  root 
most  easily  at  this  time  of  year;  pot- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


107 


ted  in  2-inch  you  will  not  lose  one  in 
a  thousand. 

Pot  Culture. 

An  early  Easter  is  always  a  bless- 
ing to  a  man  who  grows  bedding 
plants,  for  just  before  Easter  he  is 
fearfully  crowded  and  has  to  exercise 
all  his  wits  to  keep  things  from  spoil- 
ing, and  one  of  the  principal  crops 
that  needs  attention  is  the  geraniums. 
Then  they  are  shifted  into  the  4-inch 
pots,  from  which  they  are  bedded  out. 
The  February  struck  plants  get  a  3- 
inch  as  soon  after  the  others  as  possi- 
ble, and  make  good,  bedding  plants 
that  sell  to  .late  customers,  and  if  you 
get  50  cents  per  dozen  less  than  you 
do  for  your  fine  4-inch  plants  they 
pay  well. 

We  are  always  successful  in  getting 
our  geraniums  in  full  bloom  from  the 
15th  of  May  to  June  1st,  and  believe 
that  geraniums  are  grown  nowhere 
finer  and  better  than  they  are  in  this 
city.  We  believe  this  is  largely  be- 
cause we  use  a  rather  heavy  loam.  The 
only  fertilizer  is  about  a  fifth  of  sifted 
hot-bed  manure,  in  which  there  can 
be  little  ammonia,  but  it  keeps  the 


Bench  of  Bruant  Geraniums. 

soil  open.  We  pot  firmly,  as  firmly 
as  we  can,  ram  the  soil  down  with  our 
fingers,  and  this,  we  believe,  is  an  im- 
portant point  in  getting  them  to 
flower. 

If  you  are  a  market  grower,  and  your 
customers  will  forget  where  they  pur- 
chased their  geraniums,  you  can  add 
a  5-inch  pot  of  bone  flour  to  every 
wheelbarrow  load  of  compost.  It  will 
make  the  geraniums  jump.  But  if  you 
fill  flower  beds  year  after  year  for  a 
good  customer,  don't  use  the  bone 
flour;  there  is  no  need  of  it  and  plants 
thus  stimulated  will  not  do  so  well 
when  bedded  out  as  those  grown  with- 
out this  fertilizer. 

The  treatment  described  above  will 
do  for  all  the  geraniums  of  the  zonal, 
rose  leaf,  variegated  and  bronze  sec- 
tions. The  tricolor  and  more  slow- 
growing  varieties  of  the  variegated 
and  smaller  scented  kinds  we  prefer  to 
put  in  the  sand  and  give  them  five  de- 
grees more  heat  during  winter  and  a 
richer  and  lighter  compost. 

Speaking  of  composts,  we  used  to 
have  occasion  to  'buy  some  geraniums 
to  fill  late  orders,  and  the  compost 
they  were  in  looked  like  black  rappee 


snuff,  a  light  sand  and  at  least  half 
old  rotten  manure;  loosely  potted, 
loose  at  the  neck,  almost  needing  a 
stake;  this  is  the  very  reverse  of  what 
is  right.  There  would  surely  be  plenty 
of  leaves  on  such  plants,  but  a  poor 
flower,  and  such  stuff  makes  poor  bed- 
ding plants. 

Mme.  Salleroi  is  so  distinct  in  its 
habit  that  it  would  be  waste  of  room 
to  propagate  it  in  the  way  we  do  the 
strong  growing  zonals.  We  lift  be- 
fore frost  as  many  plants  from  the 
ground  as  our  needs  demand  and  pot 
in  4  or  5-inch  pots  just  as  they  are 
lifted,  and  store  away  in  some  light, 
cool  house.  In  January  we  cut  them 
up  and  every  shoot  is"  a  cutting  which 
roots  most  easily  in  the  sand.  In  the 
crowded  state  of  our  houses  before  the 
bedding  out  begins  we  put  the  varie- 
gated zonal,  bronze,  sweet  scented  and 
Salleroi  sections  into  a  mild  hot-bed. 
Put  into  the  beds  by  middle  of  April 
they  make  fine  plants  by  bedding  time. 
In  these  varieties  it  is  leaf  growth  you 
want,  and  they  are  greatly  benefited  by 
the  action  of  the  ammonia  on  their 
leaves. 

The  ivy  leaf  section  used  so  largely 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


in  our  baskets,  vases  and  veranda 
boxes  we  treat  entirely  different.  We 
leave  them  out  of  doors  as  long  as 
safe  from  frost,  and  even  if  you  should 
feel  that  a  frost  is  coming  it  is  no 
great  job  to  cover  them  or  to  pull  the 
plants  up  and  take  them  into  the  shed 
to  be  made  ready  for  the  cutting  bed 
next  day.  A  few  dozen  old  plants  will 
give  you  an  immense  lot  of  cuttings 
and  always  put  them  in  the  sand, 
which  by  this  time  of  year  is  probably 
a  little  warm  with  fire  heat 

We  keep  them  in  2-inch  pots  till 
New  Year's,  then  shift  into  a  3-inch; 
and  the  demand  for  these  beautiful 
plants  is  so  great  for  our  veranda 
boxes  that  we  have  to  shift  many  of 
them  again  into  a"4-inch.  Their  droop- 
ing habit  makes  them  awkward  to 
grow  on  a  bench  when  of  any  size,  so 
we  have  to  put  them  on  10-inch 
shelves,  a  row  hanging  over  on  each 
side. 

The  ivy  leaf  section  are  beautiful 
plants  and  when  their  roots  are  con- 
fined they  continue  to  flower  a  long 
time,  but  when  planted  out  in  good 
soil  they  grow  so  freely  that  blooming 
ceases. 

In  winter  you  are  seldom  asked  for 
geranium  flowers,  or  not  enough  to 
warrant  your  devoting  any  bench  room 
to  them,  but  you  are  frequently  called 
upon  for  a  geranium  plant  in  flower, 
and  it  is  just  as  well  to  have  some. 
Should  you  not  sell  them  they  will 
make  a  fine  lot  of  cuttings  in  Febru- 
ary. 

Select  a  few  hundred  healthy  young 
plants  in  May  of  the  free  blooming 
varieties  and  put  them  aside  as  sold. 
When  the  rush  is  over  shift  into  5- 
inch  and  grow  along  in  a  light  house, 
with  the  pots  plunged  in  some  -materi- 
al to  keep  them  from  continually  dry- 
ing out;  here  is  where  the  portable 
shading  would  come  in  so  good.  A 
cold-frame  would  do  as  well  with  the 
glass  tilted  up  back  and  front,  and 
then  you  can  shade  from  10  till  4 
o'clock. 

Keep  the  buds  always  picked  off 
these  geraniums  during  summer,  and 
in  August,  if  they  are  worth  it,  shift 
again,  into  a  6-inch  pot.  If  you  allow 
the  buds  to  come  up  after  middle  of 
September  you  will  have  some  very 
cheerful,  bright  plants  that  are  very 
attractive.  These  plants  if  wanted  to 
flower  freely  should  have  a  night  tem- 
perature of  55  degrees,  and  the  light- 
est bench  you  have. 

There  is  a  lesson  to  be  observed 
about  these  common  geraniums.  If 
we  give  them  more  than  45  degrees  at 
night  and  55  to  60  degrees  at  day  with 
our  imperfect  light  and  want  of  venti- 
lation, for  we  can  only  give  air  to  a 
limited  extent,  the  plants  will  run  up 
to  leggy,  useless  plants,  but  out  of 
doors  in  a  night  temperature  of  70, 
and  during  the  day  perhaps  to  90  de- 
grees, they  do  not  run  up,  they  grow 
into  sturdy,  stout  plants.  So  the  nearer 
we  can  come  to  perfect  light  and  air 
with  those  plants  (roses,  carnations, 
etc.)  that  we  ask  to  flower  in  the 


winter  instead  of  resting,  the  greater 
success  we  shall  have. 

There  are  scarcely  any  insects  tnat 
trouble  geraniums,  and  it  is  a  great 
thing  in  their  favor.  Tobacco  smoke 
does  not  hurt  any  of  them  and  only 
the  scented  leaved  section  is  ever 
troubled  with  aphis.  Too  close  prox- 
imity to  hot  water  pipes  will  some- 
times produce  red  spider,  but  'that 
should  not  occur.  It  is  a  great  treat 
to  me  to  water  a  batch  of  geraniums 
that  are  on  the  dry  side,  and  they 
should  be  allowed  to  get  so.  Then 
they  seem  to  relish  the  soaking  they 
get. 

Specialists  who  grow  to  supply  the 
trade  with  young  stock  propagate 
from  stock  plants  the  season  through 
if  possible,  but  their  stock  is  not  what 
we  want  to  make  our  fine  bedding 
plants.  However,  it  is  on  such  men  as 
C.  W.  Ward,  of  The  Cottage  Gardens, 
and  E.  G.  Hill  &  Co.,  of  Richmond, 
Ind.,  that  we  must  rely  for  new  varie- 
ties, for  these  gentlemen  import  at 
-  great  expense  alt  the  new  varieties, 
many  of  which,  perhaps,  they  do  not 
deem  worthy  of  sending  out  to  the  flor- 
ist who  deals  directly  with  the  public. 
It  would  be  useless  to  publish  a  list 
of  varieties  as  sorts  wear  out  and  new 
ones  are  constantly  taking  their  places. 
Neither  am  I  acquainted  with  a  long 
list  of  varieties.  It  is  very  unwise  to 
grow  a  great  variety.  A  dozen  of  the 
best  semi-doubles,  half  a  dozen  single, 
half  a  dozen  of  the  ivy  leaf  section, 
and  a  few  of  the  standard  variegated 
and  bronze,  will  fill  the  bill  for  the 
man  who  has  flower  beds  to  fill.  Last 
year  the  demand  for  geraniums  was 
larger  than  ever  and  although  we  had 
double  the  quantity  of  S.  A.  Nutt  over 
any  other,  we  were  sold  out  of  it  long 
before  the  rest,  showing  that-you  -want 
a  large  quantity  of  the  very  few  lead- 
ing varieties,  and  proportionately 
smaller  quantities  of  the  rest.  We  find 
at  present  that  the  following  sorts  suit 
our  business  best: 

Semi-Double  Zonal  Varieties. 

S.  A.  Nutt:    Crimson. 

Alphonse  Riccard:     Orange  scarlet. 

J.  J.  Harrison:     Fine  scarlet. 

W.  P.  Simmons:     Orange  scarlet. 

Tower  Eiffel:    Bright  scarlet. 

Beaute  Poitevine:     Clear  salmon. 

Emile  de  Girardin:     Fine  pink. 

Francis  Perkins:  Clear  pure  pink; 
the  best  pink  we  know;  grand  habit. 

Prokop  Daubeck:  Light  scarlet; 
best  variety  for  vases. 

Ernest  Lauth:  Rich  shade  of  red; 
extra  good. 

La  Favorite:     Pure  white. 

Single  Zonals. 

Queen  of  the  West:     Fine  red. 

Athlete:     Bright  scarlet. 

General  Grant:  Bright  scarlet;  one 
of  the  very  best  for  large  beds. 

Mrs.  E.  G.  Hill:  Salmon;  a  grand 
truss. 

Rev.  W.  Atkinson:  Deep,  bright 
scarlet. 

Mme.  Lavalle:     Rosy  salmon. 


John  Salter:  White  and  light  sal- 
mon. 

J.  P.  Cleary:  Vivid  dark  scarlet; 
one  of  the  best  bedding  geraniums. 

Mrs.  A.  Blanc:  Magnificent  variety; 
shaded  apricot  red. 

Ivy  Geraniums. 

Souv.  de  Charles  Turner:  Deet 
pink;  fine  grower. 

Jeanne  d'Arc:     Fine  double  white. 

Pere  Crozy:     Scarlet;  erect  in  habit 

Then  we  have  a  double  as  well  as 
semi-double  pale  pink,  most  useful. 

Scented  Geraniums. 

Rose  Leaf:  Indispensable  for  cut- 
ting. 

Lady  Plymouth:  Variegated  rose 
leaf,  and  a  few  each  of  the  nutmeg  and 
lemon  scented. 

Variegated,  Bronze  and  Tricolor. 

Mountain  of  Snow:  Pure  white  and 
green  leaf;  a  most  desirable  plant. 

Mme.  Salleroi:  Compact  variegated 
plant;  excellent  for  an  edging. 

Happy  Thought:  Very  attractive; 
dark  green,  white  center. 

Mrs.  Parker:  Variegated  foliage; 
double  pink  flower. 

Marshal  McMahon:  Fine  bronze, 
with  distinct  dark  zone. 

Golden  Bedder:  Rich,  golden  leaved. 

Mrs.  Pollock:  Beautiful  tricolor  leaf; 
best  of  its  class. 

Dwarf  Geraniums. 

We  have  in  Mars  a  distinct  type  oi 
geranium,  very  dwarf  and  compact, 
the  flowers  of  a  pleasing  salmon  shade. 
It  makes  a  very  neat  pot  plant,  or  edg- 
ing to  a  flower  bed,  and  is  a  wonder- 
fully free  bloomer. 

It  costs  little  to  try  a  few  of  any  of 
the  newer  varieties  sent  out  by  reliable 
houses,  and  if  they  do  well  in  your 
soil  and  locality  increase  your  stock. 
There  was  a  time,  about  twenty  years 
ago,  when  the  writer  could  pick  out 
forty  varieties  of  double  and  single 
zonal  geraniums  by  their  leaves.  Any- 
one can  do  it  by  the  flower,  but  the 
leaf  is  different.  Times  have  changed, 
and  although  we  can  pick  out  many 
other  things  now,  we  have  lost  track 
of  the  varieties  of  geraniums,  but  I 
trust  not  how  to  grow  them  with  profit 


THE  COTTAGE  GARDENS, 

QUEENS,  N.  Y. 

Carry  a  full  line  of  all  the  latest 
....NOVELTIES.... 

as  well  as  the  best  standard 
varieties  of 

Geraniums. 

We  have  15,000  feet  of  glass  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  geranium  culture,  and  carry 
the  largest  and  most  select  line  of  gera- 
niums in  America. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J09 


Well  Bloomed  Dwarf  Geranium. 


to  ourselves  and  pleasure  to  our  cus- 
tomers. 

This  would  be  a  good  place  to  say 
something  about  a  geranium  cutting. 
It  is  remarkable  to  see  the  poor  judg- 
ment (or  is  it  carelessness?)  of  some 
men  in  such  a  simple  thing  as  making 
cuttings.  We  have  been  told  that  cut- 
ting at  a  joint  was  not  at  all  essential; 
don't  believe  it.  Cuttings  will  root,  of 
many  kinds  of  plants,  an  inch  below  a 
joint,  but  not  as  surely.  At  a  joint  is 
where  the  wood  is  most  firm,  and  if 
you  left  a  piece  of  sappy,  succulent 
stem  an  inch  long  below  a  joint  it  is 
more  likely  to  get  overcharged  with 
moisture,  the  walls  of  the  cells  are 
ruptured,  decay  commences  and  the 
stem  turns  black.  If  cut  at  a  joint 
this  is  not  so  likely  to  occur.  When  I 
say  at  a  joint  I  mean  an  eighth  to  a 
fourth  of  an  inch  below. 

Then  again  you  will  see  men  denude 
a  cutting  of  all  the  leaves  except  the 
:small,  undeveloped  ones,  and  others 
ivill  leave  three  or  four  large  leaves, 
so  that  if  put  into  the  sand  or  potted 
they  would  be  just  a  mass  of  leaves  un- 
less you  placed  them  far  apart.  These 
mistakes  are  not  always  by  the  boys 
or  beginners,  but  by  men  who  ought  to 
know  better.  It  is  carelessness,  want 
of  brains  and  want  of  thought. 

Now,  this  pleasant  little  operation  of 
making  cuttings  should  go  quickly. 
They  should  pass  through  your  hands 
as  quickly  as  the  half-dollars  drop  into 
the  ticket  office  of  Forepaugh's  circus, 
but  be  properly  done,  withal.  The 
cutting  exists  largely  on  what  the  leaf 
absorbs  from  the  atmosphere  and  sends 
down  material  to  form  the  root.  (These 
remarks  of  course  apply  to  soft- 
wooded  cuttings  that  are  in  active 


growth.)  So  do  not  pull  off  all  the 
geranium  leaves.  Leave  one  perfect 
leaf  and  one  half  developed;  that  will 
allow  you  to  stand  the  small  pots  close 
together. 

If  it  was  any  sacrifice  of  material  to 
cut  just  below  a  joint  there  would  be 
some  reason  for  not  doing  it,  but  there 
is  none.  Neither  the  piece  above  the 
joint  you  leave  on  the  parent  plant  or 
the  piece  you  leave  below  the  joint  of 
the  cutting  is  any  good,  and  whoever 
thinks  it  takes  longer  to  cut  in  the 
proper  place  is  mistaken;  a  practiced 
eye  and  hand  fixes  on  the  proper  spot 
in  a  moment. 

We  are  well  aware  that  tea  roses 
root  very  well  an  inch  or  two  below  a 
joint,  but  no  better,  and  they  are  hard- 
ly soft-wooded  plants. 

While  I  have  stated  just  how  I 
would  trim  a  geranium  cutting,  that  is 
no  guide  to  the  hundreds  of  other  soft- 
wooded  plants  we  grow.  With  many 
of  the  smaller  leaved  kinds  a  number 
of  leaves  can  be  left  on,  perhaps  the 
more  the  better  for  the  rooting  pro- 
cess, but  if  too  many  leaves  were  al- 
lowed you  would  soon  fill  up  your 
propagating  bed,  and  to  crowd  the 
cuttings,  covering  the  sand  densely,  is 
just  the  way  to  produce  fungus  on  the 
surface  of  the  sand,  which  is  a  calam- 
ity_and  often,  results  in  serious  loss. 

With  the  great  majority  of  the  soft- 
wooded  plants  we  propagate  during 
winter  and  spring.  The  heliotrope, 
ageratum,  fuchsia,  etc.,  the  verbena, 
for  example,  root  quicker  and  surer 
when  the  cutting  is  quick  grown,  suc- 
culent and  brittle.  I  have  endeavored 
to  mention  the  condition  of  cutting 
best  suited  for  propagation  with  every 


plant  for  which  I  have  given  cultural 
directions. 

GLADIOLUS. 

The  varieties  we  grow  are  hybrids 
from  some  of  the  many  species  of 
which  the  large  genus  is  composed. 
The  handsome  spikes  of  the  gladiolus 
are  known  to  all,  and  for  the  flower 
border  the  gladiolus  is  one  of  the  most 
handsome  of  summer  flowers,  but 
grown  with  such  ease  by  everyone  that 
the  price  of  the  spikes  is  now  very 
low. 

They  can  be  readily  raised  from  seed 
and  will  flower  the  second  year.  That, 
of  course,  is  the  only  way  to  produce 
varieties,  of  which  now  there  are  le- 
gions. 

They  are  often  grown  by  florists  on 
their  benches  among  other  crops  to 
produce  flowers  in  May  and  June  be- 
fore those  outside  are  in  bloom.  They 
will  not  flower,  however,  till  we  get 
the  warm  days  of  spring,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  early  you  may  plant  the  bulbs 
they  will  in  a  carnation  temperature 
grow  very  slowly.  I  have  never  seen 
that  they  injured  the  carnations  if  not 
put  in  too  thickly. 

Plant  the  bulb  on  the  bench  in  Feb- 
ruary among  the  carnations  by  just 
squeezing  it  into  the  soil.  It  needs  no 
covering  and  the  watering  you  give  the 
carnations  will  suit  the  gladiolus.  A 
rose  bench  would  suit  them  much  bet- 
ter, but  it  would  be  hardly  fair  to  the 
roses. 

Out  of  doors  the  cultivation  is-  very 
simple.  The  better  the  ground  the  finer 
the  spikes,  and  in  very  dry  weath- 
er they  should  get  an  occasional  soak- 
ing with  water.  Very  large  growers 
must  necessarily  use  only  plow  and 
cultivator.  The  commercial  man 
should  plant  the  corms  (for  they  are 
not  bulbs  at  all)  in  rows  two  feet  apart, 
so  that  the  horse  cultivator  can  be 
run  between  them,  and  six  to  eight 
inches  in  the  rows.  Five  to  six  inches 
deep  is  about  right.  When  as  deep  as 
that  they  are  not  in  our  dry  summers 
so  likely  to  suffer  for  want  of  water. 

The  corms  increase  rapidly  and  you 
will  frequently  find  two  fine  ones  in 
place  of  the  old  one  planted  in  the 
spring.  If  a  succession  of  flowers  is 
desired,  make  plantings  at  intervals  of 
two  weeks,  but  remember  that  you  will 
get  no  more  flowers  after  the  first 
frost.  Before  there  is  any  danger  of 
frost  reaching  the  bulb,  dig  them  up 
and  let  them  lie  in  the  sun  for  a  day 
or  two  with  the  tops  cut  off  a  foot  or 
so  above  the  corms.  When  the  stalk 
is  dry  cut  it  off  within  an  inch  of  the 
corm,  and  if  they  are  not  wet  with 
rain  or  dew  store  them  away  in  flat 
trays  anywhere  out  of  the  reach  of 
frost. 

Any  place  that  will  keep  potatoes 
will  keep  gladiolus  bulbs.  There  is  us- 
ually such  a  place  in  the  greenhouse 
sheds.  They  are  the  easiest  possible 
bulbs  to  keep;  only  keep  them  from 
frost.  We  once  had  a  lot  dug  up  and 
lying  on  the  groung  to  ripen  the  tops 
when  over  night  down  came  a  frost, 
about  three  degrees,  I  thought  our 


no 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


gladiolus  had  escaped,  but  every  bulb 
was  destroyed. 

The  white  and  light  varieties  are 
much  the  most  valuable  to  the  florist. 
There  are  now  pure  white  varieties 
and  of  every  other  conceivable  shade 
except  blue.  In  buying  bulbs  remem- 
ber that  75  per  cent  should  be  white 
or  very  light  shades. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  list  of 
names.  There  are  too  many,  and  few 
florists  grow  them  under  name.  The 
Lemoine  strain  are  very  handsome  and 
distinct  and  differ  from  the  ordinary 
gladiolus  by  being  finely  spotted  and 
marked,  and  some  of  them  have  fine 
shades  of  orange  and  yellow. 

GLAZING. 

A  most  important  part  of  green- 
house construction.  Poor  putty,  if  the 
glass  is  lapped  and  poorly  laid,  is  a 
source  of  constant  annoyance,  waste 
of  coal  and  injury  to  the  plants.  When 
the  glass  is  butted,  unless  the  house  is 
well  and  truly  built,  it  will  be  a  botch 
and  failure  and  will  bring  censure  on 
this  excellent  method,  which  under 
most  circumstances  is  the  way  to  glaze 
a  commercial  house.  Some  critics  may 
say  if  good  for  the  commercial  man 
why  not  for  all  glass  structures?  The 
lapped  method  is  more  expensive,  but 
if  well  and  properly  laid  is  undoubted- 
ly a  good  job,  but  the  butted  plan  is 
quicker  to  lay,  easier  to  repair,  much 
less  expensive,  and  if  you  ever  want  to 
alter  or  move  your  houses  or  wish  to 
remove  the  glass  you  can  do  so  with 
perfect  ease.  As  to  tightness  for  mak- 
ing a  warm  house  both  methods  when 
thoroughly  done  will  do  that,  with  a 
preference  toward  the  butted  system. 

Lapped  or  Puttied. 

Where  the  modern  iron  frame  houses 
are  built  the  bar  used  is  usually  very 
light,  but  well  supported  by  a  num- 
ber of  purlins.  On  these  houses  the 
glass  is  usually  lapped  and  there  are 
only  one  or  two  points  to  observe.  The 
putty  should  be  of  good  quality  and  to 
it  should  be  added  one-fifth  of  white 
lead.  The  glass  should  be  pressed  down 
till  the  putty  is  spread  out  evenly  and 
over  the  entire  surface  of  the  shoul- 
der of  the  bar;  this  will  save  much 
labor  when  you  take  off  the  back  put- 
ty, aa  there  will  be  no  holes  to  fill  up. 

In  old  style  glazing  you  saw  laps  of 
all  sizes  from  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  to 
one  inch.  The  longer  the  lap  the 
more  place  for  dust  and  dirt  to  lodge 
with  no  means  or  chance  to  clean  it 
out,  so  you  have  a  dark  strip  across  at 
the  junction  of  every  light.  One-eighth 
of  an  inch  is  the  ideal  length  of  a  lap 
for  any  size  glass  and  it  makes  just  as 
warm  a  house  as  a  lap  of  two  inches. 

The  best  thing  I  have  found  to  hold 
the  glass  down  as  well  as  to  hold  it 
from  slipping  down  is  the  Van  Reyper 
glazing  point.  It  is  a  small  double 
staple  which  has  a  shoulder  in  the  top 
or  end  that  both  holds  down  the  glass 
and  at  the  same  time  prevents  its  slip- 
ping. 

Houses  that  are  glazed  with  putty 
should  have  a  coat  of  paint  after  the 
glass  is  in,  regardless  of  how  many 


coats  the  bars  have  had  before  they 
were  put  up.  One-eighth  of  an  inch  is 
usually  allowed  between  the  bars;  this 
allows  only  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch 
on  each  side  between  the  glass  and  the 
wood. 

Butted  Glass. 

The  unfavorable  reports  and  con- 
demnation of  this  system  are  largely 
from  two  sources,  mostly  by  men  who 
never  tried  in  the  right  way,  or  per- 
haps tried  it  on  an  old  house  that  was 
formerly  glazed  with  putty,  and  the 
other  people  whose  houses  were  not 
built  correct  enough  and  made  straight 
and  true.  Square  cut  glass  will  not  fit 
crooked,  plate  and  bars. 

In  the  first  place  you  must  use  the 
cypress  cap  and  bar  that  is  especially 
made  for  the  purpose  and  your  bars 
must  be  put  on  true  and  parallel.  One- 
sixteenth  of  an  inch  is  all  you  want 
for  play  between  bars.  It  should  be 
just  that  and  nothing  more  or  less; 
this  is  very  particular.  Some  carpen- 
ters mark  out  on  the  ridge  and  plate 
the  place  for  the  bars,  others  will  cut 
a  strip  of  hardwood,  one  to  be  used  at 
ridge  and  one  at  plate.  If  the  strip  is 
one-sixteenth  inch  longer  than  width 
of  glass  and  the  bar  is  nailed  up  to  the 
stick  carefully  every  time,  top  and 
bottom,  you  can't  go  very  far  wrong; 
yet  eyery  ten  bars  or  so  you  should 
prove  by  a  rod  that  you  are  keeping 
the  bar  at  top  and  bottom  parallel. 
You  can  make  up  any  discrepancy  with 
putty.  Putty,  like  charity,  covers  a 
multitude  of  sins.  With  butted  glass 
you  must  be  correct,  and  it  is  just  as 
easy  to  be  so. 

Don't  trust  to  any  carpenter,  how- 
ever many  houses  he  has  built;  prove 
for  yourself  that  lie  is  right.  When 
the  bar  is  nailed  to  the  plate  see  that 
the  face  of  the  bar  on  which  the  glass 
rests  and  the  slope  of  the  plate  are  ex- 
actly flush.  If  the  bar  is  a  trifle  below 
the  plate  it  is  difficult  to  remedy.  If 
it  is  a  trifle  above  it  can  easily  be 
taken  off  with  a  chisel.  The  bar  can 
always  be  straightened  on  the  purlin 
when  you  lay  the  glass,  or  straightened 
by  a  straight-edge  and  fastened  in 
place  before  you  begin  to  lay  the  glass. 

The  glass  should  not  be  lapped  on 
the  plate  more  than  half  an  inch;  the 
less  glass  there  is  resting  on  the  wood 
the  less  likelihood  of  breakage  by  ice. 
The  glass  should  always  without  fail 
be  laid  with  the  rounding  part  up;  all 
glass  is  more  or  less  convex  and  con- 
cave. The  thin  edge  of  the  glass  (if 
there  is  a  choice)  should  alwaysi  lead 
up  the  bar.  If  you  were  to  put  the 
thick  edge  up  and  it  butted  against  a 
thin  one  there  would  be  a  small  space 
for  the  water  to  lodge.  The  man  who 
lays  the  glass,  if  he  has  any  brains  at 
all,  will  be  able  to  see  these  points  at 
a  glance  and  lay  it  about  as  quick  as 
a  boy  can  hand  it  to  him.  Remember 
that  is  all  he  has  to  do;  there  is  no 
putty  and  no  brads,  no  squeezing  and 
thumbing,  no  squinting  and  swearing, 
it  is  only  to  lay  the  glass  in,  and  BO 
you  go  on  to  the  top. 

In  laying  out  the  length  of  the  bar 
we  try  to  make  it  so  that  a  certain 


number  of  lights  just  fill  up  from 
plate  to  ridge.  If  that  is  not  conve- 
nient you  can  always  make  it  so  that 
a  half  light  will  finish  at  the  top. 
When  you  know  exactly  what  sized 
fraction  of  a  light  you  need  (if  any) 
you  will  have  them  all  cut  ready;  it 
is  just  as  well  to  use  the  small  piece 
at  the  bottom. 

Before  we  lay  any  glass  we  drive  in 
two  wire  six-penny  nails,  half  an  inch 
below  edge  of  plate,  but  only  drive 
them  in  a  small  depth,  just  enough  to 
hold  the  lights  while  you  are  laying 
them.  This  can  be  done  before  you  be- 
gin to  glaze  and  by  a  man  standing  on 
the  ground.  When  the  whole  run  of 
glass  is  in  and  before  you  screw  down 
the  cap  the  man  nearest  the  bottom, 
with  the  end  of  his  chisel  handle,  gives 
the  glass  a  good  push  up,  closing  up 
any  space,  however  small,  and  then 
drives  in  his  bottom  nails.  They  should 
be  driven  close  down  to  the  glass  or 
they  will  impede  snow  and  ice  slipping 
off.  Now  this  effectually  prevents  the 
glass  from  slipping,  and  if  the  bottom 
light  does  not  how  can  the  others? 

One  inch  round-headed  screws  are 
used  to  screw  down  the  cap,  the  first 
screw  two  inches  from  the  bottom  and 
one  exactly  at  every  joint  or  butt.  A 
boy  can  get  these  caps  ready  because 
you  will  have  one  cap  as  a  pattern,  and 
with  a  ratchet  drill  the  caps  can  be 
ready  with  the  screws  already  lightly 
tapped  in,  and  When  the  two  men  lay- 
ing the  glass  call  for  the  cap  up  it  goes 
and  the  men  who  have  ratchet  screw- 
drivers soon  have  the  screws  down  in 
their  place.  Don't  screw  down  too 
tightly,  just  firm  and  solid  is  enough. 
You  will,  of  course,  need  one  screw 
within  an  inch  or  so  of  the  ridge. 

Be  sure  to  have  the  ventilators  made 
the  same  way  with  cap  and  bar,  and  to 
take  the  same  size  glass.  Have  but 
one  size  glass  on  the  place  if  possible, 
and  as  little  cutting  as  possible.  I  do 
not  like  to  disparage  any  device  that 
is  made  and  sent  abroad  in  good  faith 
by  a  fellow  florist,  but  in,  justice  to 
those  who  will  follow  my  advice  I 
must  candidly  say  the  zinc  strips  that 
are  made  to  go  between  glass  when 
butted  are  a  miserable  failure  and  a 
nuisance.  You  want  nothing  between 
them  or  under  them;  simply  the  cap. 

Any  size  glass  can  be  butted.     We 


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Prices  the  Lowest. 

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THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


have  it  on  12,  14  and  16  inch  square 
and  always  double  thick.  We  prefer  to 
use  glass  that  is  square,  that  is,  14x14 
or  16x16.  Then  you  have  the  choice  of 
two  edges,  and  if  one  is  a  little  rough 
you  can  use  the  other.  If  glass  is  laid 
as  described  above  it  will  save  you 
many  dollars.  It  is  a  smooth,  fine 
roof,  more  air  tight  than  lapped  glass. 
The  drip  is  nothing,  absolutely  noth- 
ing, if  well  and  properly  laid;  if  there 
should  be  a  trifle  it  is  always  at  the 
bottom,  which  in  commercial  houses 
would  fall  in  the  path.  And  if  a  little 
dust  creeps  in,  and  it  will  creep  in 
where  water  won't,  it  can  be  washed 
annually  as  clean  as  the  day  you  put 
it  up. 

Fancy  the  luxury  of  painting  such  a 
house.  Remove  the  glass,  thoroughly 
paint  and  relay  again.  If  you  were 
visited  by  a  hailstorm  you  have  only 
to  break  out  the  shattered  lights,  shove 
up  the  sound,  and  before  night  you  are 
whole. 

Without  considering  these  contin- 
gencies, it  is  the  ideal  way  for  a  com- 
mercial man  to  build.  I  have  ten 
houses  glazed  with  butted  glass.  I 
had  no  one  to  tell  me  how,  but  I  per- 
severed, and  when  I  had  built  five  or 
six  I  had  it  down  fine  and  have  given 
you  the  mature  fruits  of  my  experi- 
ence. 

GLECHOMA  (NEPETA  GLECHOMA). 

The  species  that  is  useful  to  the 
florist  is  called  by  many  names. 
'Ground  Ivy"  is  one,  and  the  Germans 
apply  the  elegant  name  of  "Louse 
Krout."  The  variegated  form  of  this 
little  weed  is  one  of  our  best  basket 
plants.  It  starts  to  grow  so  well  and 
makes  such  a  fine  appearance  in  a 
vase  or  basket  that,  weed  as  it  may  be, 
it  is  well  worth  growing. 

The  ends  of  the  growths,  a  few 
inches  long,  should  be  put  into  2-inch 
pots  in  September,  three  or  four  in 
each  pot,  and  placed  in  a  cold-frame. 
Kept  shaded  and  moist  they  will  soon 
be  rooted,  and  then  the  glass  should 
be  removed  till  severe  weather  arrives, 
when  the  glass  should  again  go  on. 
Leave  them  in  the  frame  till  end  of 
March,  when  they  should  be  got  out 
and  shifted  into  3-inch  pots  and  start- 
3d  growing  in  the  greenhouse.  We 
place  them  along  the  edges  of  benches 
or  shelves  where  their  quick  growing 
shoots  can  hang  down. 

Few  plants  will  make  such  a  veil  of 
growth  to  cover  the  woodwork  of  our 
rustic  baskets  or  the  moss  of  our  hang- 
ing baskets  as  this  little  "creeping 
Jenny,"  but  do  not  attempt  to  keep  it 
in  the  greenhouse  all  winter  or  it  will 
be  useless. 

GLOXINIA. 

These  tropical  American  plants  are 
well  adapted  to  house  culture.  I  have 
seen  plants  with  fifteen  perfect  flowers 
in  the  window  of  a  humble  cottage. 
We  seldom  get  complaints  about  their 
failure.  They  are  essentially  summer 
flowering. 

Gloxinias  are  raised  in  large  quanti- 
ties from  seed  by  specialists,  but  the 


florist  who  grows  only  a  few  hundred 
vvill  do  much  better  to  obtain  his  sup- 
ply of  corms  (usually  called  bulbs) 
from  some  firm  that  raises  them  in 
large  quantities.  The  price  of  the 
bulbs  is  now  very  low.  Seed  is  usually 
sown  in  February.  Sow  on  a  wet  sur- 
face and  don't  cover  the  seed;  it  is  too 
small.  Cover  the  pan  with  a  light  of 
glass  till  the  seeds  are  up.  A  warm 
house  is  needed  and  the  pans  should 
be  kept  away  from  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun. 

As  soon  as  the  seedlings  can  be 
handled,  transplant  them  two  inches 
apart  in  flats  in  two  or  three  inches 
of  loam  and  leaf-mould.  In  June  plant 
them  in  four  inches  of  soil  in  a  cold- 
frame,  or  better  still,  a  hot-bed  that 
has  lost  its  violent  heat.  When  grow- 


in  the  morning.  I  have  had  the  best 
success  with  gloxinias  when  the 
plants  stood  on  inverted  5  or  6-inch 
pots  on  the  bench;  you  can  syringe 
the  under  side  of  the  leaves  better  and 
the  plants  seem  to  thrive  much  better 
with  the  increased  circulation  of  the 
air  they  get  in  this  position. 

Shading  is  the  most  particular  part 
of  their  cultivation.  They  don't  like 
the  dense  shade  that  whitewash  af- 
fords, neither  do  they  want  the  bright 
sun,  or  their  beautiful  flowers  will  wilt 
and  droop.  A  light  shade,  or  best  of 
all,  one  that  could  be  applied  only  in 
the  hottest  hours,  would  be  ideal. 
Never  let  them  get  dry  or  you  will 
lose  their  flowers.  This  is  a  plant 
that  in  watering  I  should  resort  to 
the  old  watering  pot,  unless  you  have 


Gloxinias. 


ing  they  like  plenty  of  water  and 
should  be  shaded  on  all  bright  days. 
Many  of  these  seedlings  will  flower 
the  same  summer  and  will  make  good 
bulbs  for  growing  in  pots  the  next 
season. 

In  September  water  should  be  grad- 
ually withhheld  till  the  foliage  has 
dried  up,  when  the  bulbs  should  be 
lifted  and  stored  away  in  dry  sand  or 
soil  during  winter.  As  previously  said, 
for  a  few  hundred  you  cannot  begin  to 
raise  seedlings  at  the  price  you  can 
buy  good  flowering  bulbs  from  the  spe- 
cialist. 

February  to  March  is  the  best  time 
to  start  the  bulbs.  We  put  them  first 
in  4-inch  pots,  just  covering  the  bulbs. 
One  watering  is  sufficient  till  the 
leaves  begin  to  start.  A  good  loam 
with  a  third  of  its  bulk  composed  of 
leaf-mould  and  well  rotted  cow  ma- 
nure will  grow  them  finely.  The  house 
you  start  them  in  should  not  be  less 
at  night  than  60  degrees,  but  as  the 
season  advances  they  delight  in  our 
warmest  weather.  When  the  leaves 
extend  over  the  pots  they  should  be 
shifted  into  their  flowering  pot,  a 
6-inch,  and  well  drained. 

Gloxinias  really  want  a  warm,  moist 
temperature  without  any  water  ly- 
ing on  their  leaves,  although  before 
flowering  they  should  be  daily 
syringed,  which  should  always  be  done 


a  very  slow  stream  running  from  the 
hose  and  your  mind  intently  on  your 
work. 

The  fine  leaves  of  the  gloxinia  are 
very  brittle  and  easily  broken,  and 
when  shifting  or  handling  must  re- 
ceive good  care  or  your  plant  will  be 
spoiled. 

When  out  of  flower,  if  you  wish  to 
keep  over  the  old  corms,  lay  the  pots 
on  their  side  under  a  warm,  dry  bench 
and  leave  them  undisturbed  till  you 
want  to  shake  them  out  and  start 
again  in  the  spring. 

There  are  now  grand  strains  of  most 
beautiful  rich  shades  of  color  and  the 
upright  or  erect  flowering  are  the  best. 

GRASSES. 

Several  grasses  should  be  promi- 
nent in  all  mixed  borders  of  hardy 
plants,  or  make  beautiful  clumps  on 
the  lawn,  either  singly  or  in  groups. 
They  will  thrive  in  any  ordinarily 
good  soil  and  those  named  are  perfect- 
ly hardy.  They  are  propagated  by  di- 
vision and  rapidly  increase  in  size. 

The  finest  and  most  ornamental  of 
all,  the  Pampas  grass,  is  unfortunately 
not  hardy  enough  to  withstand  our 
northern  winters.  Where  the  tempera- 
ture does  not  drop  more  than  15  de- 
grees below  the  freezing  point  it  will 
do  finely.  The  Pampas  grass  (Gyne- 
rium  argenteum)  is  a  native  of  the  Ar- 


U2 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Border  of  Pennisetum  Longistylum  around  a  bed  of  Cannas. 


gentines  and  temperate  South  Amer- 
ica, thriving  grandly  in  California, 
from  whence  we  get  our  plumes.  It 
seems  as  though  with  the  protection  of 
a  stout  box  filled  in  with  dry  leaves 
and  with  a  movable  cover,  this  orna- 
mental plant  could  be  wintered  safely, 
and  in  the  decoration  of  fine  grounds 
well  repay  the  labor.  We  assuredly 
go  to  greater  expense  in  preserving 
some  plants  that  are  not  of-  so  much 
value/ 

Arundo  Donax:  This  is  the  noblest 
of  the  hardy  grasses,  growing  in  one 
summer  eight  to  ten  feet  in  height.  It 
needs  no  protection.  In  the  spring 
cut  off  close  to  the  ground  the  last 
year's  canes  and  mulch  with  a  few 
inches  of  manure. 

A.  Donax  versicolor  or  variegata  is 
not  quite  so  hardy,  but  is  much  more 
ornamental.  It  should  be  protected  in 
the  winter  months  with  a  covering  of 
six  inches  of  litter  over  the  crowns. 
It  is  identical  in  every  respect  with 
the  type  except  that  its  leaves  are 
beautifully  variegated. 

Eulalias  are  the  most  useful  grasses 
and  are  so  hardy  they  need  no  pro- 
tection. The  tops  are  usually  left 
standing  during  winter  and  removed 
by  cutting  or  burning  off  in  the  spring. 

Eulalia  japonica:  The  flower  is  or- 
namental but  it  is  the  long,  narrow, 
4-foot  leaves  that  make  this  grass 
such  an  acquisition  to  the  garden. 

E.  j.  zebrina:  The  leaves  are  very 
handsome,  having  bars  of  yellow 
across  them. 

E.  j.  foliis  striatis:  In  this  sort  the 
creamy  band  runs  lengthwise  of  the 
leaf. 

E.  j.  gracillima  univittata:     This  is 


the  narrowest  leaved  and  most  grace- 
ful of  all,  but  not  such  a  robust  grower 
as  the  others,  and  is  more  suitable  for 
a  choice  place  in  the  border  than  to 
form  a  mass  on  the  lawn. 

Erianthus  Ravennae:  This  might 
be  called  a  small  Pampas  grass,  throw- 
ing up  handsome  plumes.  It  is  quite 
hardy. 

Arundinaria  tecla:  ^A  very  orna- 
mental grass,  but  should"  be  planted  in 
moist  ground  or  given  water  very 
freely.  It  does  well  on  the  margins  of 
lakes. 

Pennisetum  japonicum:  Well  worthy 
a  place  in  the  mixed  border  and  per- 
fectly hardy. 

Pennisetum  longistylum:  This  pret- 
ty plumed  grass  is  very  effectively 
used  in  bedding.  It  can  be  grown 
from  seed,  but  is  usually  propagated 
by  division.  Take  up  several  clumps 
in  the  fall,  trim  off  the  foliage,  place 
in  a  box  and  set  under  a  bench  in  a 
house  with  a  temperature  of  40  to  45 
degrees.  In  March  shake  out  the  soil, 
tear  the  clump  to  pieces  and  pot  two 
or  three  runners  in  a  3  or  4-inch  pot. 
Place  in  a  house  with  a  temperature 
of  60  degrees.  They  make  plants  in  a 
short  time  and  may  be  bedded  out  the 
latter  part  of  May  or  early  in  June. 
The  accompanying  engraving  shows  a 
border  of  this  pennisetum  around  a 
bed  of  cannas. 

GREENHOUSE  BUILDING. 

In  step  with  the  growth  of  our  busi- 
ness, the  demand  for  flowers  and  their 
rapid  production,  and  the  high  quality 
now  demanded,  the  science  of  building 
our  greenhouse  structures  has  kept 
well  tp  the  front  When  we  see  the  old 


dark  structures  of  twenty-five  years 
ago,  with  their  heavy  wood  work,  8x10 
glass,  and  4-inch  cast  iron  pipe,  we 
feel  a  chill,  especially  if  we  own  them. 
We  believe  it  would  be  almost  impos- 
sible to  produce  the  roses  and  carna- 
tions of  to-day  in  the  quantity  and 
quality  they  are,  had  not  our  flower 
growers  the  modern  houses  of  to-day. 

Houses  for  the  private  establishment 
I  shall  not  mention.  They  can  be  built 
with  all  the  ornamentation  as  well  as 
substantial  and  useful  appointments 
that  the  owner  desires,  and  should  be 
always  in  keeping  with  the  grounds 
and  mansion  with  which  they  are  as- 
sociated. I  will  say  this  much:  That 
whenever  a  range  of  glass  is  to  be 
erected,  let  it  be  a  costly  and  extensive 
range  or  but  one  small  conservatory, 
it  is  far  cheaper  in  the  end  and  a  hun- 
dred times  more  satisfactory,  to  have 
them  built  by  horticultural  builders, 
whose  specialty  it  is,  and  who  have 
made  a  life  study  of  the  business,  con- 
stantly devising  new  and  better  meth- 
ods, employing  expert  workmen,  who 
know  accurately  every  detail  of  the 
structure. 

Building  a  greenhouse  or  conserva- 
tory is  as  distinct  a  business  from  the 
ordinary  house  building  as  is  ship 
building,  and  the  local  carpenter,  glaz- 
er  and  steam  fitter  are  the  most  unfit 
people  to  employ.  I  have  had  local 
painters  put  a  piece  of  tin  against  the 
bar  when  painting  the  roof,  "to  keep 
the  paint  off  of  the  glass,"  thereby 
entirely  neglecting  the  one  important 
place  for  paint,  the  space  between  the 
glass  and  wood  occupied  with  putty. 
The  local  steam  fitter  is  learning  some 
thing  about  steam,  but  his  knowledge 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


USEFUL  AND 
ORNAMENTAL 
RANGE  FOR 
SMALL  PRIVATE 
PLACE,  CONSISTING  OF 
CENTRAL  CURVILI- 
NEAR PALM  HOUSE, 
WITH  TWO  EVEN 
SPAN  STRAIGHT  ROOF 
WINGS. 


HITCHINGS  &  CO. 


233    Mercer   Street.         ESTABLISHED  1844. 


,NEW  YORK  CITY. 


AND  LARGEST  MANUFACTURERS  OF 

GREENHOUSE  HEATING  AND  VENTILATING  APPARATUS, 


GREENHOUSES,  PALM  HOUSES  AND 

U    CONSERVATORIES  ERECTED  COMPLETE 

WITH  OUR  STANDARD  IRON  FRAME 

CONSTRUCTION. 


W 


E  solicit  correspondence  from  those  con- 
templating the  erection  of  Horticultural 
Structures.  On  receipt  of  particulars  of 
the  requirements,  we  will  be  pleased  to 
furnish  designs  and  estimates. 


THREE- 
QUARTER  SPAN 
GROWING 
HOUSE  FOR  ROSES, 
ETC.,  59  x  20  FEET, 
WITH  ONE  SECTION 
PARTITIONED  OFF 
FOR  WORK  ROOM, 
WITH  BOILER  CELLAR 
UNDER,  AND  A 
HOT-BED  OR  COLD 
FRAME  ON  THE 
SOUTH  SIDE. 


See  page  127 

for  our  (jreen- 

house    Heating 

Advertisement. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


of  hot  water  circulation  is  yet  awfully 
crude,  and  the  carpenter,  who  is  per- 
haps capable  of  building  a  winding 
stair  case,  is  a  failure  at  greenhouse 
building  unless  you  are  able  to  tell 
him  "just  how  you  want  it."  So  the 
amateur  or  man  of  wealth  should  al- 
ways employ  one  of  those  firms  who 
make  a  business  of  glass  structures. 
Perhaps  there  are  many  such  firms. 
Of  my  acquaintances,  who  are  masters 
of  their  business  as  well  as  honorable 
men  that  are  bound  to  perform  all  they 
agree,  there  are  Lord  &  Burnham  Co., 
of  Irvington-on-the-Hudson,  N.  Y.; 
Hitchings  &  Co.,  and  Thomas  W. 
Weathered's  Sons,  of  New  York.  All 
of  these  firms  are  constantly  building, 
not  only  private  establishments,  but 
commercial  houses  all  over  the  coun- 
try. 

Shape  and  Aspect. 

Plant  houses,  i.  e.,  houses  for  raising 
palms,  pandanus  or  ferns,  m  flowering 
lilies  and  azaleas,  or  growing  the  bulk 
of  our  bedding  plants,  in  fact  for  any 
purpose  except  for  roses  and  carna- 
tions, can  run  north  and  south.  A 
house  with  its  ridge  running  north  and 
south  with  good  sized  glass  will  give 
you  all  the  light  that  these  plants 
need,  and  in  the  summer  when  too 
much  sun  is  the  trouble  they  are  not 
so  hot. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  houses  that 
are  built  communicating,  or  simply  a 
partition  wall  between  them,  are  a 
great  saving  in  fuel,  and  in  latitudes 
where  we  get  great  snows,  and  often 
weeks  of  zero  weather,  it  is  most  ad- 
visable that  blocks  of  houses  be  built 
together  with  only  two  outside  walls, 
providing  you  are  sure  you  will  not 
want  to  change  your  business  and  con- 
vert them  into  rose  or  carnation  hous- 
es; for  this  purpose  they  would  be 
very  unsuitable. 

The  conventional  house  of  this  kind 
is  usually  20  ft.  wide,  with  a  middle 
bench  of  6  ft.  6  in.,  and  two  side 
benches  of  3  ft.  6in.  each,  allowing  2 
ft.  for  each  path  and  keeping  the 
benches  away  from  posts  2  or  3  inches 
on  each  side  to  avoid  any  drip  on  the 
plants.  Whenever  I  speak  of  the  width 
of  a  house  as  20  or  22  ft,  I  always 
mean  the  dimensions  to  be  from  out- 
side to  outside  of  posts  if  detached  or 
from  center  to  center  of  posts  if 'at- 
tached. For  the  general  run  of  our 
plant  houses  the  top  of  the  posts  from 
outside  grade  of  ground  is  usually  for 
these  equal  span  houses  4  ft  6  in 
with  the  plate  on  top  of  post  and  the 
bar  about  11  ft.  6  in.;  this  gives  you 
nice  head  room  for  the  paths. 

The  middle  bench  is  used  for  tall 
growing  plants  and  the  side  benches 
for  the  dwarfer  ones.  Often  the  space 
that  would  be  occupied  by  the  bench 
is  used  by  standing  the  plants  on  the 
floor  or  planting  them  out,  as  you  do 
with  smilax,  etc.  If  four  or  five  houses 
are  used  for  the  same  kind  of  plants, 
for  instance  chrysanthemums,  ferns! 
lilies,  then  geraniums,  or  maybe  all 
palms,  then  there  is  no  need  of  a  par- 
tition wall,  but  unless  you  are  in  a 
big  way  of  business  you  will  find  it 


much  safer  to  have  a  partition  between 
them.  You  so  often  want  to  keep  one 
house  a  little  warmer  or  cooler  than 
others,  or  in  fumigating  you  may  find 
it  very  inconvenient  to  have  to  fill 
the  whole  lot  with  smoke  when  there 
were  plants  in  some  that  you  did  not 
want  to  smoke. 

Another  style  of  house  for  general 
plant  growing  that  is,  I  think,  more 
economical  to  build  and  easier  to  work, 
is  one  of  22  ft.  This  will  allow  an 
18-inch  path  against  each  wall,  three 
benches  a  little  short  of  5  ft.  6  in. 
each  and  two  more  paths  of  1  ft.  Gin. 
each.  The  heating  would  be  but  a 
trifle  more,  the  first  cost  of  glass  and 
bars  but  a  fraction,  and  the  walls  and 
the  gutters  no  more.  In  these  houses 
the  heating  pipes,  whether  of  steam  or 
hot  water,  are  against  the  walls, 
away  from  the  plants,  where  there  is 
no  danger  of  encouraging  red  spider. 
Where  the  houses  are  built  in  this 
way  the  posts  should  be  5  ft.,  so  as  to 
give  head  room  in  the  outside  paths. 
The  benches  in  these  houses  could  be 
any  height  to  suit  your  plants. 

Benches. 

I  will  say  here  about  benches,  that 
it  is  often  thought  necessary  to  raise 
them  up,  sometimes  to  an  awkward 
height,  with  the  view  of  getting  more 
light.  "Keep  plants  near  the  glass," 
is  an  old  maxim  oft  repeated.  What  is 
intended  by  this  advice  is  give  them 
light.  In  our  modern  houses  where 
the  glass  is  never  less  than  12  inches 
wide,  and  the  light  is  unobstructed, 
the  plants  receive  as  much  light  eight 
feet  from  the  glass  as  they  do  two  feet 
from  it.  Years  ago  violets  were  always 
grown  in  a  pit  near  the  glass.  They 
are  grown  as  well  today  10  feet  from 
the  glass. 

Board  benches  are  continually  wear- 
ing out;  even  if  made  of  2-inch  plank 
their  life  is  short.  For  roses  and  car- 
nations there  is  perhaps  no  substitute 
for  wood  as  when  their  roots  touch  the 
moist  wood  it  is  congenial  to  them, 
which  slate  and  cement  are  not,  but 
plants  in  pots  are  quite  different,  as 
they  are  seldom  stood  on  the  bare 
boards  but  usually  stand  on  a  layer  of 
ashes  or  sand.  Heavy  slate  is  too  ex- 
pensive for  the  commercial  man  and 
roofing  slate  would  need  so  much  sup- 
porting. 

We  saw  at  the  South  Park,  Chicago, 
an  excellent  device  for  the  plant  ta- 
bles, the  invention  of  Mr.  Kanst,  we 
think.  The  frame  of  the  tables  was 
angle  and  T  iron.  For  the  floor  of  the 
bench  he  had  a  composition  flagging. 
They  were  about  two  feet  square  and 
if  I  remember  correctly  one  inch  thick. 
It  is  obvious  they  could  be  made  any 
reasonable  length  and  breadth,  and 
thicker  if  desired.  It  would  be  only  a 
matter  of  making  a  mould.  A  frame  of 
inch  strips  of  wood  was  made,  or  a 
number  of  them,  the  frames  were  set 
on  a  surface  of  boards  and  a  mixture 
of  fine  gravel  and  cement  thrown 
in  and  struck  off  with  a  straight-edge. 
After  the  concrete,  as  we  will  call  it, 
had  set,  which  cement  quickly  does, 
the  frame  and  bottom  boards  were  re- 


moved. I  am  not  certain  that  I  am 
exactly  clear  how  the  boards  and 
frame  were  removed,  but  that  is  a  tri- 
fling part  of  it,  and  will  quickly  occur 
to  any  ingenious  workman. 

When  dry  there  was  a  lot  of  ever- 
lasting material  for  the  plant  tables, 
and  as  most  of  the  tables  were  so  con- 
structed with  the  iron  supports  and 
concrete  flooring  they  were  practically 
indestructible.  And  to  show  us  that 
a  large  plant  would  not  break  these 
slabs  of  cement  and  gravel  Mr.  Kanst 
jumped  on  the  middle  of  one  about  two 
feet  square  and  gave  us  one  step  of 
the  Highland  fling.  These  tables  can- 
not be  expensive  and  where  the  mate- 
rial is  near  by  cannot  exceed  the  cost 
of  a  2-inch  plank  of  pine  or  hemlock, 
and  would  in  ten  years  be  much  the 
cheapest. 

Often,  though,  we  have  not  the  time 
to  do  these  things  and  turn  to  the 
readiest  and  quickest  methods,  so  we 
resort  to  the  same  old  boards.  The 
uprights  should  be  2x6  and  the  cross 
pieces  of  the  same  dimensions.  I  think 
it  cheaper  in  the  end  to  use  for  the 
surface  of  the  table  2-inch  plank.  The 
pulling  out  and  rebuilding  is  half  the 
cost,  and  that  you  certainly  save.  We 
mix  up  a  pail  of  hydraulic  cement, 
which  with  us  is  called  water  lime, 
and  with  a  whitewash  brush  give  the 
top  of  planks  or  boards  a  thorough 
coat  of  the  cement,  and  on  top  of  the 
cross  pieces  and  top  of  uprights,  in 
fact  wherever  wood  is  laid  on  wood, 
for  that  is  where  we  find  decay  first 
begins. 

Wooden  benches  are  supported  on 
iron  frames  made  of  gas  pipe.  They 
are  most  easily  put  up,  look  neat  and 
are  of  course  long  lasting.  It  would 
take  too  long  to  describe  here,  and 
unnecessary,  as  you  have  only  to  send 
to  the  Jennings  Bros.,  Olney,  Philadel- 
phia, for  their  illustrated  circular 
which  shows  you  the  whole  thing. 

Where  the  bench  is  not  over  eigh- 
teen inches  from  the  ground  we  believe 
the  bench  should  be  solid,  that  is  walls 
built  up  with  4-inch  brick  walls  laid  in 
cement  or  concrete  walls,  and  filled 
in  with  stones  or  ashes,  and  surfaced 
with  any  material  you  choose.  It  is 
easier  for  the  workman  to  handle  the 
plants  when-  the  benches  are  about 
three  feet  high,  but  no  better  for  the 
plants,  and  saves  much  repairing  and 
"fixing"  of  benches;  and  what  a  fine 
bench  for  palms,  azaleas,  lilies  and 
later  for  cannas,  in  fact  for  anything. 

Ventilation. 

The  ventilation  of  these  houses,  or 
any  house,  should  be  ample  always. 
You  may  not  need  it  except  in  sum- 
mer, but  you  want  the  means  for  the 
largest  amount  of  ventilation  that  is 
of  benefit  to  the  plants  in  the  hottest 
weather.  Our  prevailing  winds  are 
from  the  west,  and  a  large  proportion 
of  the  country  is  the  same.  So  we 
ventilate  on  the  east  side.  There  is 
also  another  advantage  in  ventilating 
on  the  east  side.  In  February  and 
March  particularly,  the  thermometer 
may  indicate  15  degrees  of  frost,  yet 
the  sun  be  very  bright,  compelling  us 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


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THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


to  put  on  a  crack  of  air  by  9  or  10 
o'clock.  The  ventilators,  if  on  the 
west  side,  would  be  frozen  and  could 
he  lifted  only  with  great  trouble,  while 
the  sun  has  thawed  the  ice  on  the  east 
side.  We  do  not  think  that  ventilation 
on  both  sides  is  necessary  if  ample  is 
given  on  the  east  side. 

The  dimensions  for  ventilators  on  a 
20  or  22-foot  house  should  be  2  fit.  6  in. 
deep  from  ridge  to  bottom  of  ventila- 
tor, and  continuous  the  whole  way 
along  the  roof.  It  is  plain  to  everyone 
that  a  3-inch  opening  the  whole  way  is 
far  better  than  a  6-inch  opening  for  the 
length  of  four  feet  and  then  a  space 
of  five  or  six  feet  with  no  opening.  We 
have  seen  some  very  clearly  denned 
cases  of  failure  of  late  that  were  un- 
mistakably traceable  to  very  inade- 
quate ventilation.  It  costs  no  more  in 
glass  and  little  more  for  the  machines 
that  operate  the  sash. 

In  rose  houses  the  best  method  is 
doubtless  that  where  the  ventilator 
opens  at  the  ridge,  and  with  plants  of 
a  tropical  nature,  like  our  palms,  dra- 
caenas,  orchids,  ferns,  etc.,  it  must 
also  be  the  best  system.  For  carnations 
and  the  more  cold  blooded  plants,  such 
as  azaleas,  lilies,  and  our  geraniums, 
the  ventilators  hinged  at  the  ridge  will 
do,  but  if  all  the  ventilators  open  at 
the  ridge  for  every  house  you  won't 
be  far  wrong. 

I  cannot  see  any  use  in  cutting  off 
the  bars  where  the  headers  go  in  for 
the  ventilators  to  be  hinged  on,  or  it 
may  be  close,  on.  Let  all  the  bars  run 
up  to  the  ridge;  you  will  get  as  much 
ventilation,  the  bars  will  be  stronger, 
you  will  have  a  straighter  roof,  and 
the  labor  is  only  a  trifle  more,  if  any. 

Usually  these  plant  houses  lead 
out 'from  a  continuous  shed,  which  is 
of  course  on  the  north  end  of  them,  so 
that  there  is  not  a  square  foot  of  bench 
room  that  has  not  the  full  light;  more 
particularly  is  this  true  of  the  22-ft. 
houses,  where  the  benches  are  removed 
from  the  walls. 

Where  several  of  these  houses  are 
built  parallel  and  attached,  only  the 
two  outside  ones  can  spread,  and  this 
brings  us  to  the  question  of 

Posts. 

Some  men  with  sufficient  capital  can 
afford  to  build  brick  walls  on  stone 
foundations,  and  when  the  stone  work 
is  2  ft.  6  in.  or  3  ft.  in  the  ground  and 
dry  work  to  near  the  surface  of  the 
ground  it  makes  an  excellent  drain, 
keeping  the  surface  of  the  house  dry, 
which  is  an  excellent  state  of  affairs.  I 
doubt  whether  an  8-inch  brick  wall 
is  much  warmer  than  two  thicknesses 
of  boards,  and  a  12-inch  wall  is  quite 
expensive.  However,  with  those  that 
can  afford  it  it  is  certainly  to  be  com- 
mended. Wooden  posts  will  for  a  long 
time  be  used,  and  if  of  the  right  mate- 
rial outlast  any  other  portion  of  the 
house. 

Locust  is  the  nearest  to  cast  iron  of 
any  wood  we  know  of,  but  good  locust 
posts  are  difficult  to  obtain  and  very 
hard  to  work.  Red  cedar  is  most  dur- 
able, light  to  handle  and  easy  and 
pleasant  to  work.  Next  in  quality 


comes  cypress,  which,  when  of  good 
quality  will  last  in  the  ground  many 
years,  and  the  only  other  wood  I  know 
of  suitable  for  posts  is  what  is  gen- 
erally known  as  white  or  yellow  cedar, 
which  for  the  purpose  is  far  inferior 
to  the  red  cedar,  although  one-half  the 
cost  of  the  latter. 

A  post  that  is  dressed  5x5  or  6x4  is 
large  enough  for  ordinary  houses.  It 
is  well  to  have  all  parts  set  firmly  in 
the  ground,  especially  the  outside  ones, 
although  the  posts  must  not  be  trust- 
ed to  keep  the  walls  plumb,  however 
well  set.  If  the  post  hole  is  dug  a  few 
inches  on  all  sides  larger  than  the  post 
and  when  the  posts  are  set  perfectly 
true  and  straight  by  the  aid  of  two 
lines,  one  near  the  top  and  one  near 
the  bottom,  and  the  excavation  filled 
in  with  concrete,  gravel  and  cement, 
which  should  be  carried  above  the  sur- 
face as  high  as  possible,  you  have 
fastened  the  posts  as  firmly  as  it  is 
possible  to  do. 

The  tops  of  the  posts  should  be  cut 
off  square.  Now,  how  do  you  get  this 
line  so  that  the  plate  shall  be  a  per- 
fect line?  Not  with  a  swinging  line, 
surely,  for  you  can  never  get  a  perfect 
line  by  any  cord,  however  taut.  With 
a  10-ft.  straight-edge  and  level  you 
first  get  a  level  on  the  two  end  posts, 
the  two  extreme  ends,  then  if  you  wish 
to  drop  two  or  three  inches  to  the 
shed,. or  the  same  from  the  shed,  you 
measure  down  the  number  of  inches 
on  the  end  that  you  wish  to  drop,  tack 
on  a  strip  of  wood  a  few  inches  broad 
with  a  straight  top  edge,  and  when  it 
is  nailed  on  the  post  temporarily  let  it 
project  a  foot  or  so  outside  the  line  of 
posts  and  perfectly  level.  Nail  a  simi- 
lar piece  on  the  post  at  the  other  end 
and  the  height  you  have  decided  on, 
dab  a  little  black  paint  on  one  of  the 
strips  and  on  the  other  some  white 
paint. 

Then  a  man  (two  men  are  better) 
with  a  2-ft.  spirit  level  held  to  the  side 
of  all  the  intermediate  posts  will  give 
you  an  exact  line.  One  man  should 
hold  the  spirit  level,  level  and  raise 
or  lower  by  order  of  the  boss,  who  is 
sighting  over  one  of  the  end  strips. 
When  the  top  of  the  level  is  exactly 
even  or  in  a  line  with  the  tops  of  the 
strips  make  a  pencil  mark  on  the  post 
and  move  to  another.  You  will  have 
a  line  when  your  posts  are  cut  off 
that  is  not  pretty  near  a  line,  but  cor- 
rect to  a  hair.  Why  the  strips  of  wood 
should  be  white  and  black  is  to  help 
you  sight,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
sight  truly  if  it  were  just  the  ordinary 
planed  pine. 

I  have  described  this  operation 
seemingly  at  some  length,  but  twenty 
posts  are  marked  quicker  than  I  have 
described  it.  It  is  the  only  way  to  get 
a  true  line,  and  when  established  it  is 
a  guide  for  your  pipes  and  benches, 
or  you  can  level  across  to  another  run 
of  posts  if  need  be,  although  your  cor- 
ner posts  once  correct  this  sighted  line 
is  much  truer  than  any  straight  edge. 

The  top  of  post  should  be  cut  off 
square  and  on  it  spiked  the  plate, 
which  should  be  broad  enough  to  pro- 


ject an  inch  over  the  post  on  the  in- 
side and  four  inches  outside  of  the 
posts,  then  when  the  matched  board- 
ing and  novelty  siding  is  nailed  on 
there  is  still  a  projection  of  two  inches. 


The  plate  should  be  beveled  both 
ways  and  the  heel  of  the  bar  being  cut 
to  the  bevel  it  affords  good  solid  nail- 
ing. The  outside  bevel  should  be  the 
same  as  that  of  the  slope  of  your  roof. 
Posts  that  support  a  gutter  should 
never  be  more  than  four  feet  from 
center  to  center.  For  outside  posts  wa 
have  got  along  very  well  with  posts 
eight  feet  apart.  There  is  no  great 
weight  on  the  outside  plate  and  the 
two  thicknesses  of  siding  help  sup- 
port it. 

The  posts  for  partitions,  or  that  will 
support  the  gutter,  should  be  sawed 
at  the  same  level  as  the  corresponding 
posts  outside,  and  the  gutter  plate 
project  equally  on  either  side.  If  the 
center  posts  are  of  red  cedar  6x3  is 
just  as  good  as  square. 

Gutters. 

Many  a  good  dollar  has  been  thrown 
away  in  the  days  gone  by  in  the  won- 
derful construction  of  the  gutter.  Good 
pine  boards  nailed  in  all  sorts  of  com- 
plicated ways  and  then  covered  with 
zinc,  tin  or  galvanized  iron,  only  put 
up  to  rot.  The  gutter  now  is  a  sim- 
ple affair  and  promises  to  last  as  long 
as  the  ridge.  It  is  simply  a  plank  of 
the  clearest  and  soundest  cypress  and 
1%  inches  thick  when  dressed,  and 
either  eight  inches  or  twelve  inches 
wide.  If  eight  inches  then  the  gutter 
pieces  which  the  bars  butt  against  and 
are  nailed,  are  screwed  on  the  side  of 
the  gutter  plate,  thus: 


8  INCHES 


Or  if  a  foot  wide  then  the  pieces  are 
nailed  on  top  of  the  gutter,  as  below: 


12   INCHES 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


\\i 


I  prefer  the  latter  plan,  and  after 
six  years'  trial  of  it  have  no  fault  or 
failure  in  the  least.  You  should  have 
at  least  a  clear  eight  inches  in  width 
of  gutter,  and  the  side  pieces,  whether 
nailed  on  the  side  or  on  top,  should 
not  be  less  than  2y2  inches  above  gut- 
ter before  the  bevel  begins.  The  plan 
for  joining  the  gutter  plates,  explained 
and  illustrated  in  the  work  "How  to 
Grow  Flowers,"  by  the  late  Myron  A. 
Hunt,  is  excellent,  and  again  I  say, 
after  some  years  of  adoption,  I  can  see 
no  better  way. 

A  coarse  saw  groove  is  made  in  the 
center  of  the  thickness  of  the  plate 
three  inches  deep  and  one-eighth  or  a 
trifle  less  wide.  Both  planks  where 
they  will  butt  will  be  sawed,  then  get 
a  piece  of  sheet  iron  six  inches  broad 
and  the  length  of  the  breadth  of  the 
gutter  plate  and  the  thickness  of  the 
saw  cuts,  and  after  smearing  it  with 
white  lead  drive  it  home  in  the  saw 
groove  of  one  plate  that  is  already  in 
place,  and  when  the  next  plate  is  laid 
that  is  also  driven  home.  If  the  planks 
have  been  sawed  perfectly  square,  this 
is  an  absolutely  tight  joint.  We  never 
look  for  these  joints  to  be  over  a  post, 
as  the  joint  is  as  strong  as  any  part  of 
the  gutter. 

The  Ridge. 

The  ridge  is  8x1%  dressed.  This  al- 
lows ample  face  for  the  bevel  of  the 
bar,  the  groove  for  the  glass  to  enter, 
and  three  inches  above  the  bar  for  the 
ventilator  if  hinged  at  ridge,  or  bevel 
of  ventilator  to  close  against  if  open- 
ing at  the  ridge. 

The  main  support  to  keep  a  house 
rigid  and  perfectly  straight  and  true, 
as  long  as  it  will  stand,  and  that  is,  we 
trust,  a  long  time,  is  a  l^-inch  iron 
pipe  straight  under  the  ridge.  If  the 
ridge  is  thus  supported  the  whole 
weight  is  really^  taken  off  the  walls. 
In  wind  storms  the  roofs  of  our  green- 
houses are  severely  tested,  and  this 
center  support  should  be  screwed  into 
a,  fitting  which  has  a  shoulder  that  fits 
under  and  screws  on  to  side  of  "the 
ridge. 


At  the  bottom  or  floor  this  should  be 
screwed  into  a  circular  plate  which 
should  be  screwed  into  a  short  post 
securely  set  into  the  ground  a  couple 
of  feet.  Some  only  rest  the  bottom  of 
this  iron  pipe  on  a  stone.  That  is  good 
enough  for  all  weight  from  above,  but 
in  case  of  great  wind  storms,  when  a 
vacuum  is  formed  in  the  house,  I  have 
seen  the  iron  supports  lifted  clear  off 
the  stone,  which  is  a  wrenching  of  the 
roof  and  conducive  to  cracked  glass. 

In  houses  such  as  we  have  endeav- 
ored to  describe,  intended  for  plants 
in  pots,  if  planted  out  to  smilax  or  as- 


paragus they  would  be  on  the  ground, 
and  wheeling  on  the  benches  would 
not  be  necessary. 

The  neatest  way  to  support  the  pur- 
lins is  by  getting  the  fittings  made  by 
Jennings  Bros.,  of  Philadelphia.  They 
are  made  to  go  over  a  l^-inch  pipe 
with  a  branch,  one  in  each  side,  with 
a  socket  for  a  1-inch  pipe.  They  are 
fastened  at  any  height  on  the  center 
l^-inch  pipe  by  a  set  screw  and  have 
knuckle  joints  so  that  the  1-inch  pipe 
leading  from  them  can  be  set  at  any 
angle. 


It  will  be  readily  seen  that  the 
weight  from  the  purlins  pressing  to  a 
common  center  must  be  the  best  of 
support.  The  purlins,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  ridge,  should  be  situated  about 
half  way  between  ridge  and  gutter  or 
plate;  or  if  you  use  a  heavy  bar  let  it 
be  a  little  nearer  the  ridge  than  the 
gutter,  because  it  will  keep  the  bars 
more  rigid  near  the  ventilators.  There 
should  be  1-inch  gas  pipe  set  every 
eight  feet  (same  distance  apart  as  the 
center  posts).  You  must  put  in  a  T 
into  which  will  screw  the  1-inch  pipe 
that  leads  from  the  fitting  on  center 
post. 

The  bars  are  fastened  to  the  purlins 
neatly  and  quickly  by  a  steam  fitter's 
galvanized  iron  clip,  which  you  buy 
by  the  weight.  The  clip  is  screwed 
into  the  bar  with  a  %-inch  screw  and 


holds  the  bar  firmly,  but  not  so 
firmly  but  what  a  rap  with  the 
hammer  will  move  it  either  way 
when  you  are  glazing.  Be  sure 
that  you  get  the  pattern  for  the 
bar  the  exact  bevel  both  for  the  ridge 
and  plate.  Nothing  looks  worse  than 
an  ill  fitting  open  joint  at  the  heel  of 
the  bar  on  the  plate.  Once  get  your 
pattern  correct  and  the  mitre  box  laid 
out  right  and  you  will  have  every 
joint  correct. 

When  putting  on  the  bars  we  put  up 
the  ridge  the  whole  length,  nailing  up 
a.  bar  on  each  side  every  five  or  six 
feet,  but  only  temporarily,  and  then 
the  iron  work  is  put  up.  By  sighting 
ilong  the  bars  the  fitting  that  controls 
the  purlins  can  be  raised  or  lowered 
till  you  can  get  an  exactly  straight 
roof. 

Glazing  has  been  dealt  with  in  an- 
>ther  chapter. 


Cypress. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  build  houses 
nowadays.  You  know  you  are  putting 
them  up  to  stay.  It  is  quickly  done 
and  much  of  the  pleasure  arises  from 
the  fact  that  you  are  building  with  a 
material  that  is  well  nigh  indestructi- 
ble, and  that  is  cypress  lumber.  Cy- 
press can  be  procured  in  any  lumber 
market,  but  for  greenhouse  building 
we  should  be  afraid  to  trust  it,  and 
we  prefer  to  get  our  supply  from  firms 
who  make  a  specialty  of  greenhouse 
material  and  have  the  facilities  for 
getting  out  material  of  any  dimensions 
you  wish. 

In  the  material  furnished  for  ten 
nouses  during  the  past  seven  years 
by  the  Lockland  Lumber  Co.,  we  have 
yet  to  discover  a  single  knot;  and 
what  is  more,  neither  in  gutter  plate, 
wall  plate,  ends  of  bars  or  any  part 
or  piece  of  the  material  have  we>  seen 
decay,  even  to  the  depth  of  a  sixteenth 
of  an  inch. 

Painting. 

When  you  contemplate  building  get 
the  wood  work  on  the  ground  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment,  and  get  a 
priming  coat  of  paint,  mostly  linseed 
oil,  applied  at  once.  And  as  soon  as 
the  plates,  ridge  and  bars  are  cut  to 
their  lengths,  another  two  coats 
should  be  given.  You  can  paint  on 
the  ground  just  ten  times  as  fast  as 
you  can  on  the  roof. 

As  we  butt  our  glass,  there  is  no 
need  of  any  painting  after  the  roof  is 
up  and  the  glass  in.  The  ends  of  the 
bars  are  always  given  an  extra  dab  of 
thick  paint  just  before  they  are  nailed 
up,  and  this  should  be  done  by  a  boy 
who  hands  them  up  to  the  carpenter. 

I  will  mention  here  that  no  part  of 
the  wood  work  where  moisture  can  lie 
should  be  flat.  All  parts  should  have 
a  bevel  either  in  or  out. 

General  Notes. 

The  length  of  a  house  is  largely 
your  own  choice.  If  for  plants  there 
is  a  continual  running  backwards  and 
forwards  to  a  shed  at  the  end,  carry- 
ing often  heavy  flats  of  plants,  and  I 
think  150  feet  is  long  enough,  and  125 
feet  is  better. 

The  soil  or  site  on  which  green- 
houses are  built  differs  widely.  I  have 
some  covering  a  light  loam  and  the 
subsoil  is  gravel  and  shale.  If  a  hose 
were  left  running  a  whole  night  on 
the  floor  of  these  houses  the  water 
would  have  entirely  disappeared  a  few 
minutes  after  the  faucet  was  shut  off. 
I  have  other  houses  where  if  the  faucet 
only  leaks  a  trifle  there  is  a  pool  of 
water  for  hours.  For  several  reasons 
I  think  it  very  injurious  to  have  the 
surface  of  the  green  house  a  wet,  damp 
soil,  retentive  of  moisture.  This  may 
be  all  right  for  orchids,  but  for  the 
great  majority  of  our  plants,  especially 
roses,  carnations,  violets,  and  the  great 
bulk  of  our  plants,  a  stagnant  mois- 
ture is  just  what  we  don't  want. 

If  your  soil  is  a  retentive  clay,  there 
should  be  provision  for  draining  it  be- 
fore you  put  up  any  structure.  Dig  a 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


trench  two  feet  deep  and  at  its  bottom 
put  in  a  3-inch  drain  tile,  and  instead 
of  filling  in  the  trench  again  with  the 
clay,  as  you  would  in  draining  a  field, 
fill  up  to  the  surface  if  possible  with 
stones,  clinkers  and  coarse  gravel.  You 
will  find  this  money  well  spent.  You 
can  always  find  some  outlet  for  the 
pipes  at  one  end,  running  them  all  in- 
to one  cross  drain  and  dropping  into 
the  stoke  hole  if  you  have  na  other 
system. 

Just  a  word  here  about  houses  that 
are  connected  and  form  what  are 
known  by  builders  as  valleys.  Some 
may  say  they  are  bad  for  the  snows. 
Now,  the  writer  certainly  lives  in  a 
district  where  the  supply  of  "the  beau- 
tiful" is  most  bountiful,  and  we  have 
noticed  year  after  year  that  we  are  no 
more  troubled  with  snow  in  the  valleys 
than  we  are  on  the  outside  roofs.  It 
seems  to  melt  quicker  in  the  valleys 
and  the  gutter  than  it  does  on  the  out- 
side plates,  and  runs  and  melts  as 
quickly  off  the  glass  unless  it  be  on  the 
almost  perpendicular  face  of  the  short 
span  to  the  south,  which,  of  course,  is 
always  clear.  Ordinary  snows  (a  fall 
of  five  or  six  inches)  don't  bother  any 
houses  on  any  kind  of  roof,  but  when 
we  get  four  feet  in  twenty-four  hours, 
as  we  did  last  December,  or  the  visita- 
tion to  the  eastern  cities  in  February 
last  that  upsets  all  calculations,  and 
it  is  a  case  of  dig  out,  front,  back  and 
middle. 

The  worst  condition  is  where  one  of 
the  avalanche-like  falls  have  come 
suddenly.  The  heat  of  the  glass  will 
melt  the  snow  some  five  or  six  inches 
from  the  glass  and  then  its  power  is 
lost  and  there  hangs  a  covering  of 
snow  a  foot  deep.  This  we  found  as 
troublesome  on  the  outside  slope  of 
the  roofs  as  in  the  valleys,  and  with 
our  modern  wooden  gutters  it  is  eas- 
ily broken  up,  and  when  once  dis- 
turbed soon  goes. 

I  never  could  see  any  use  in  outside 
gutters  unless  you  wanted  to  save  the 
water  from  the  roofs.  If  made  of 
metal  they  are  continually  breaking 
down  with  the  ice  and  had  better  be 
made  of  wood.  The  ground  surround- 
ing houses  should  always  be  so  graded 
that  surface  water  will  flow  off  where 
it  will  do  no  harm.  If  the  water  of 
the  gutters  is  saved  be  sure  to  tap 
your  gutter  plate  two  feet  from  the 
farther  end,  if  the  houses  grade  that 
way.  A  conductor  of  any  sort  on  the 
end  and  outside  of  a  house  is  a  big 
failure  and  is  the  winter  long  a  fantas- 
tic and  ornamental  miniature  iceberg. 

Where  the  water  is  not  used  the 
houses  will  of  course  drop  two  or  three 
inches  from  the  shed  to  the  farther 
end.  We  let  the  gutter  plate  project 
six  inches  beyond  the  house,  and  mak- 
ing a  saw  groove  an  inch  or  two  deep 
in  it  insert  a  piece  of  tin  a  few  inches 
broad.  This  throws  the  water  clear 
of  the  house  and  provision  is  made  by 
the  outside  grade  to  carry  it  away 
from  the  buildings. 

Under  the  head  of  painting  we 
meant  to  say  a  word  about  painting 
the  iron  work.  We  have  just  had 


some  experience  with  some  l^-inch 
pipe  supporting  the  roof  that  ran 
through  the  benches  on  which  we  have 
frequently  used  coal  ashes  to  stand 
the  plants  on.  They  have  only  been 
up  six  years.  The  pipes  began  to  cor- 
rode and  scale  off  and  this  summer  are 
rusted  clear  through,  not  in  holes,  but 
an  inch  or  two  of  the  pipes  are  clear 
gone.  We  have  often  used  coal  ashes 
on  the  floor  and  believe  they  should  be 
kept  clear  of  all  wrought  iron  pipes. 
We  also  believe  that  all  our  iron  sup- 
ports, ventilating  shafts,  heating  pipes 
and  all  pipes  of  every  description 
should  be  well  painted  with  white  lead 
and  oil. 

As  for  any  porousness  of  our  pipes, 
that  is  perfect  nonsense.  A  friend  re- 
marked on  seeing  2-inch  heating  pipes 
painted  that  it  would  prevent  radia- 
tion. Nonsense;  it  will  help  it.  A 
smooth  surface  is  always  a  better  con- 
ductor of  heat  than  a  rough  one.  Paint 
all  your  pipes  everywhere.  It  will 
save  them  and  it  will  help  to  give 
lightness  to  the  house,  and  light  means 
health  and  life.  If  painted  in  the  sum- 
mer time  there  will  be  no  possible 
odor  from  the  lead,  and  the  slight 
fumes  of  the  linseed  oil  are  more  a 
benefit  than  otherwise. 

Gi  eenhouses  for  Producing  Flowers. 

I  have  at  some  length  given  the  di- 
rections for  building,  and  the  same 
will  apply  precisely  to  houses  that  are 
built  to  grow  roses  and  carnations, 
except  the  shape,  size  and  aspect.  The 
object  sought  in  these  houses  is  to  get 
every  possible  ray  of  sunshine,  and 
besides  direct  sunshine,  light;  for 
there  are  many  days,  yes,  and  weeks, 
in  the  dead  of  winter  in  our  northern 
clime  when  we  don't  see  the  sun  at 
all. 

There  are  three  styles  of  these 
houses  and  all  have  their  champions. 
They  are  the  long-span-to-the-south, 
the  equal  or  nearly  equal  span,  and 
the  short-span-to-the-south.  Twenty 
years  ago  and  less  the  long-span-to- 
the-south  house  was  considered  by 
many  as  the  only  house  for  winter 
roses.  Then  came  the  very  reverse  of 
that,  the  short-span-to-the-south,  and 
within  seven  or  eight  years  many  good 
growers  have  gone  back  to  the  simple 
equal  span,  and  from  results  believe 
that  it  is  as  good  a  house  as  any. 

All  of  these  styles  when  built  for 
flower  producing  face  to  the  south,  or 
what  is  still  better,  facing  a  few  points 
to  the  east  of  that.  The  ridge  is  run- 
ning east  and  west,  or  a  few  points 
north  of  east,  and  south  of  west.  It 
is  obvious  that  only  one  style  of  these 
three  can  have  a  range  of  glass  at- 
tached, and  that  is,  of  course,  the 
short-span-to-the-south.  If  attached 
the  equal  span  would  shade  the  house 
to  the  north  of  it,  making  one-fourth 
at  least  of  the  north  house  useless, 
and  the  long-span-to-the-south  con- 
nected would  be  still  worse  and  out 
of  the  question. 

So  excepting  the  short-span-to-the- 
south  the  other  two  styles  are  always 
built  with  their  walls  some  18  to  20 


feet  removed  from  another  structure. 
Where  land  is  cheap,  and  most  large 
establishments  are  so  situated,  this  is 
no  great  consideration;  and  if  it  takes 
more  heat,  but  the  results  are  suffi- 
ciently better,  that  also  is  not  an  ob- 
jection. The  long-span-to-the-south 
doubtless  predominates  throughout 
the  country,  but  that  does  not  confirm 
it  as  the  best,  because  florists,  like  all 
other  classes,  are  great  copyists,  and 
if  one  or  two  leaders  said  so  the  rest 
would  follow  sheep-like,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  millions  of  fine  roses 
have  been  produced  for  years  in  the 
long-span-to-the-south  houses. 

I  see  nothing  about  them  in  any  re- 
spect to  warrant  their  being  called 
the  best  houses  for  the  purpose.  If 
there  is  any  merit,  and  there  undoubt- 
edly is,  in  the  short-span-to-the-south, 
then  the  others  must  be  entirely 
wrong.  They  are  expensive  to  build, 
awkward  and  costly  to  arrange  the 
benching  in,  more  laborious  to  attend 
to,  and  do  not  get  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun  to  the  same  extent  as  do  the 
equal  span  or  short-span-to-the-south. 

The  front  wall  is  usually  4  feet  6 
inches  (and  18  inches  or  2  feet  of  it 
glass),  the  back  wall  8  feet,  the  back 
or  short  rafter  8  feet  and  the  long 
south  rafter  16  feet.  These  are  the 
dimensions  for  a  house  19  feet  wide; 
if  22  feet  wide  the  long  rafter  is  18 
feet  and  the  short  one  9  feet.  An  up- 
right l^-inch  pipe  supports  them  un- 
der the  ridge  with  a  branch  holding  a 
1-inch  purlin  a  foot  below  the  ventila- 
tor headers,  and  another  upright  sup- 
porting another  1-inch  purlin  is  need- 
ed half  way  between  the  plate  and 
ventilator  purlin.  The  ventilators  of 
these  houses  are  always  on  the  south 
side  of  the  ridge  and  open  at  the 
ridge;  and  as  ventilation  should  be 
afforded  to  the  fullest  extent,  it  should 
be  continuous  and  deep. 

It  is  thought  necessary  to  raise  the 
benches  so  that  the"  plants  should  be 
at  about  an  equal  distance  from  the 
glass,  and  the  benches  are  arranged  in 
a  19-foot  house  as  follows:  The  south 
bench  3  feet  and  path  18  inches  or  2 
feet.  The  middle  bench  6  feet  and  the 
back  or  north  bench  3  feet.  If  the 
house  is  22  feet  the  front  bench  is  3 
feet  and'  the  back  bench  3  feet  and 
two  middle  benches  of  5  feet  each, 
with  three  paths,  each  path  and  bench 
being  raised  a  foot  or  so  till  the  back 
or  north  path  is  4  feet  from  the 
ground.  If  heated  with  hot  water  the 
pipes  are  mostly  under  the  benches. 
If  steam  is  used  the  flow  is  most  likely 
raised  above  the  plants  and  the  re- 
turns under  the  bench.  It  is  as  well 
to  add,  because  it  is  the  truth,  that 
these  houses,  while  getting  the  sun's 
rays  in  winter  very  obliquely,  get  it 
broadside  in  the  summer,  making 
them  terribly  hot  houses  in  the  sum- 
mer months. 

The  short-slope-to-the-south  is  also 
built  sometimes  19  feet  wide  and  some- 
times 22  feet.  The  walls  are  of  equal 
height,  usually  five  feet.  There  is  a 
path  against  the  north  and  south 
walls  and  one  dividing  the  two  bench- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


es,  which  are  about  6  feet  6  inches 
each.  The  paths  being  removed  from 
the  walls  gives  you  the  ideal  place  to 
hang  your  pipes,  whether  steam  or  hot 
water. 

An  improvement  over  the  house  just 
described,  and  one  that  is  giving  the 
owner  the  greatest  satisfaction  (after 
a  trial  of  several  of  them  he  has  added 
some  more  of  the  dimensions  of  400x 
22  feet),  is  22  feet  from  outside  to  out- 
side of  posts.  The  south  or  short  bar 
is  9  feet,  the  long  or  north  bar  is  18 
feet,  and  the  walls  5  feet  high.  On 
the  south  side  there  is  a  path  next  the 
wall,  then  a  6-foot  bench,  then  an- 
other 6-foot  bench,  then  again  a  path, 
and  against  the  north  wall  a  3-foot 
bench.  There  is  a  li/i-inch  pipe  un- 
der the  ridge  with  a  branch  from  that 
supporting  a  purlin  near  ventilator 
headers,  and  another  row  of  1%-inch 
pipe  supporting  a  purlin  three  feet 
lower  down  the  roof  on  the  north  side. 
The  ventilation  in  these  south-span- 
to-the-south  houses  is  always  on  the 
north  side  and  open  at  the  ridge. 

Now,  happening  to  know  several  of 
these  houses,  I  can  vouch  for  the  very 
excellent  quality  of  the  flowers  that 
are  grown  in  them,  and  having  two 
of  them  myself,  I  am  ready  to  accord 
to  them  the  several  advantages  and 
merits  they  possess.  They  are  easy 
and  cheap  to  build,  much  more  so  than 
the  long-span-to-the-south.  They  are 
cheaply  heated;  less  pipe  will  heat 
them  than  either  of  the  other  two 
styles.  When  there  is  any  sun  in  our 
dreary  winter  you  must  get  the  direct 
rays,  for  the  face  of  the  south  slope 
is  about  at  right  angles  with  the  rays 
of  the  sun  in  our  shortest  days.  They 
are  most  decidedly  the  coolest  houses 
in  summer,  which  is  a  decided  advan- 
tage, and  last  they  can  be  built  at- 
tached with  gutter  and  walls  only 
separating  them. 

The  front  or  south  bench  being 
some  two  feet  from  the  wall  there  is 
not  the  slightest  shade  from  the  ridge 
of  the  house  on  the  south.  The  fact 
of  these  houses  being  in  a  block,  and 
the  roof  of  one  largely  breaking  the 
force  of  the  wind  to  the  north,  is  a 
great  saving  of  fuel.  I  can  only  say 
that  some  of  the  best  rose  growers 
of  the  country,  having  adopted  this 
style  of  house  seven  or  eight  years 
ago,  are  highly  satisfied  with  them  and 
are  still  building  more,  and  the  quality 
of  their  product  is  evidence  of  their 
not  being  far  wrong. 

The  equal  span  house  is  to  me  about 
the  ideal.  It  may  take  more  heat,  but 
it  gives  the  best  distribution  of  light. 
An  equal  span  of  22  ft.  should  always 
be  removed  from  another  like  house  20 
ft.  The  walls  should  be  5  ft.,  a  path 
against  each  wall,  and  two  more  sep- ' 
arating  the  benches,  and  three  benches 
each  5  ft.  wide.  This  house  would 
take  a  14  ft.  bar,  and  in  addition  to  the 
main  support  in  the  center  would  need 
a  purlin  on  each  side. 

Ample  ventilation  should  be  sup- 
plied on  the  south  side  of  the  ridge 
and  opening  at  the  ridge.  Ventilation 
could  be  put  into  the  walls  of  this 


JflONINOER  (§•  HAWTHORNEAv(ta70 


house,  but  you  would  not  use  it  for 
roses,  and  for  carnations  if  shading  is 
attended  to,  I  am  convinced  it  is  not 
necessary,  as  carnations  in  our  equal 
span  houses  with  only  top  ventilation 
are  often  so  vigorous  and  thriving  at 
the  end  of  August  that  it  seems  a  sac- 
rifice to  throw  them  away. 

We  have  on  these  equal  span  houses 
some  large  ventilators  on  the  north 
side  that  are  not  worked  by  any  ap- 
paratus, and  not  used  till  settled  warm 
weather,  when  they  are  raised  up  a 
foot  or  so  on  stout  blocks,  fastened 
down  with  wire  and  left  open  till 
planting  time,  or  in  some  cases  till 
there  is  danger  of  the  houses  getting 
too  cold.  I  am  sure  that  in  carnation 
houses  these  ventilators  to  be  used  on- 
ly in  our  hot  weather  are  of  great  use. 

Why  a  steep  roof  always  makes  a 
lighter  house  than  a  flat  roof  is  not 
easy  to  explain,  but  it  is  so,  and  un- 
mistakably so.  Many  times  have  I 
compared  the  light  in  the  three  dif- 
ferent styles  of  houses  on  the  same 
day  and  the  equal  span  at  an  angle  of 
about  45  degrees  is  much  the  lightest 
appearing  house,  and  I  believe  al- 
though the  short-span-to-the-south  has 
many  advantages,  particularly  on  the 
score  of  economy  of  heat  and  space, 
that  the  equal  span,  using  the  same 
glass  and  bar,  has  the  most  perfect 
diffusion  of  light  and  comes  nearer 
the  ideal  for  producing  high  class  flow- 
ers. 

A  violet  house  should  run  north  and 
south.  You  get  all  the  light  you  wanfr 
in  the  winter  and  you  would  get  too 
much  sun  in  the  early  spring  if  the 
house  faced  south.  Under  the  head  of 
violets  I  will  give  you  my  idea  of  a 
violet  house. 

In  conclusion  all  I  have  said  about 
any  of  these  houses,  both  for  plants 
and  flowers,  applies  only  to  those  that 
you  are  going  to  build  under  your  own 
supervision.  If  you  have  no  mechan- 
ical genius  at  all,  engage  a  horticul- 
tural builder.  Some  men  have  the 
bump  of  destruction  and  some  of  con- 
struction. The  writer  wishes  no  great- 
er pleasure  in  this  world  than  bossing 
the  erection  of  glass  structures.  Poor 
fare  and  short  hours  in  bed  will  do 
him  then  if  he  can  only  squint  over 
those  pieces  of  wood  by  which  we  get 
a  line  on  the  posts  or  hangers  for  the 
pipes. 


Florists' 
Supplies 


AT.... 

HALF  PRICE. 


Write  for  our  Catalogue  No.  51, 
quoting  low  prices  on 


of  all  kinds. 


We  have    BOILER  TUBES  or 

FLiUES  of  a  second-hand  nature,  which 
we  guarantee  in  FIRST-CLASS  condition. 
They  are  used  extensively  by  Green- 
housemen  as  mains  for  hot  water 
heating  and  for  sundry  other  purposes. 

Chicago 

House  Wrecking 

Company, 

W,  35th  &  Iron  Sts,  Chicago,  III, 

Expert  Advice... 

On  All  Matters  Pertaining  to 

GREENHOUSE  BUILDING, 

HENRY  W.  GIBBONS, 

Greenhouse  Architect  and  Builder, 

136  Liberty  St.,  KTEW  YORK.  XT.  Y. 

CATALOGUES,  FOUR  CENTS. 


The  well  known  firms  I  mentioned 
in  my  opening  remarks  in  this  chapter 
will  put  you  up  most  excellent  com- 
mercial houses  and  make  them  any 
shape  or  design  you  wish.  What  I 
have  tried  to  convey  is  the  method  by 
which  you  can  erect  with  the  help  of 
one  good  carpenter  and  his  tools  sub- 
stantial lasting  houses  that  will  grew 


120 


flowers  and  plants  equal  to  the  best. 
And  if  you  are  a  builder  yourself,  not 
necessarily  able  to  handle  a  jack 
plane,  but  to  boss  the  job,  you  can 
build  first  class  houses  at  least  50  per 
cent  cheaper  than  the  iron  frame 
houses  of  the  horticultural  builder, 
and  200  per  cent  cheaper  and  better 
than  the  local  carpenter,  glazier  and 
steam  fitter. 

It  will  be  asked  why  don't"  I  say 
what  would  be  the  cost  per  lineal  foot 
of  a  house  about  20  ft.  wide.  As  near 
as  I  could  keep  a  record  of  the  last 
house  I  built,  19  ft.  wide,  heated  for 
carnations  by  hot  water,  using  double 
thick  glass,  the  Challenge  ventilator, 
the  best  clear  cypress  lumber,  red 
cedar  posts  and  wooden  benches,  they 
cost  about  $8  per  lineal  foot.  This  was 
a  year  ago  before  the  high  tariff  had 
had  a  chance  to  shed  its  beneficent 
blessings  on  the  florists'  calling. 

Possibly  at  present  .prices  of  pipe 
and  glass  the  same  houses  could  not 
be  built  for  less  than  $12  per  lineal 
foot,  but  as  glass  is  principally  made 
of  sand  and  fire  and  wind,  with  which 
we  are  well  supplied,  and  there  is  iron 


enough  in  our  mountains  to  last  the 
world  ten  thousand  years,  neither  the 
folly  of  alleged  statesmanship  nor  the 
greed  of  corporations  can  long  keep 
those  commodities  up  to  these  arti- 
ficial and  preposterous  prices. 

We  trust  lumber  will  not  go  up  in 
sympathy  with  the  manufactured  ar- 
ticles. There  are  broad  miles  (and  I 
hope  thousands  of  miles)  yet  in  the 
southern  states  of  cypress,  and  its 
great  value  seems  only  within  this  20 
years  to  ha^ve  become  widely  known. 

The  Canadians  use  the  wood  of  the 
Larch  (Tamarax)  for  benches,  and  a 
most  excellent  wood  it  is  for  the  pur- 
pose, possessing  largely  the  good  qual- 
ities of  the  cypress.  They  are  both 
deciduous  conifers.  The  tamarax  is 
the  larch  of  our  northern  swamps,  and 
the  southern  cypress  is  a  beautiful 
tree,  Taxodium  distichum. 

GREVILLEA  ROBUSTA. 

There  are  many  species  of  these 
small  trees  or  shrubs,  some  of  them 
very  ornamental,  but  G.  robusta  is  the 
easiest  to  grow  and  most  useful  to  the 
florist.  It  is  often  called  the  Austra- 


Aquilegia  Ctrysantha. 


lian  silk  oak.  We  use  it  in  vases  and 
veranda  boxes,  and  plants  a  foot  to 
two  feet  high  make  very  useful  plants 
for  winter  decoration.  It  withstands  a 
good  deal  of  rough  treatment  and  does 
very  well  in  winter  in  a  cool  green- 
house, subject  to  no  insects  and  thriv- 
ing in  any  soil. 

It  is  always  raised  from  seed,  which 
should  be  sown  in  flats  in  March  or 
April,  and  shifted  along  as  required. 
Keep  them  in  doors  on  the  benches  if 
you  can  afford  the  room,  and  give 
them  little  or  no  shade  and  they  will 
make  useful  plants  the  following 
spring.  It  is  best  to  sow  seeds  every 
spring,  as  the  plants  when  over  three 
feet  high  lose  their  value  as  decorative 
plants,  or  rather  there  are  other  plants 
occupying  no  more  room  that  are  bet- 
ter for  the  purpose.  Avoid  getting 
them  into  large  pots,  a  5-inch  pot  will 
do  very  well  for  a  plant  two  to  three 
feet  high,  and  that  is  a  great  advant- 
age when  you  are  using  decorative 
plants. 

HARDY  PERENNIAL  PLANTS. 

This  term  is  usually  meant  to  apply 
to  our  long  list  of  herbaceous  plants, 
a  few  of  which  are  useful  to  the  florist 
as  cut  flowers.  The  demand  of  late 
has  greatly  increased  for  hardy  plants, 
and  where  the  florist  has  some  good 
land  at  his  disposal  he  should  be  sup- 
plied with  a  collection  of  the  lead- 
ing kinds  so  that  he  can  supply  the 
demands  of  his  customers. 

The  increased  demand  for  this  class 
of  plants  is  to  be  attributed  to  so 
many  of  our  people  of  means  having 
summer  homes  in  the  country.  They 
have  usually  more  land  than  they  can 
take  care  of,  and  not  wishing  to  go 
deeply  into  the  formal  flower  garden 
with  our  tender  plants  they  turn  to 
the  hardy  herbaceous  perennial  kinds 
to  fill  up  the  beds  and  borders. 

In  preparing  ground  to  receive  these 
perennial  plants,  either  to  produce 
flowers  for  your  own  cutting  or  for 
your  customer,  remember  you  cannot 
very  well  dig  too  deeply  or  manure  too 
heavily,  and  with  the  great  majority 
it  should  be  well  drained  and  dry.  You 
can  top  dress  and  manure  annually, 
but  you  can  never  recover  by  subse- 
quent cultivation  the  mistake  of  plant- 
ing in  shallow,  poor  soil. 

Although  called  perennials  they 
wear  out  and  most  of  them  are  greatly 
benefited  by  lifting  and  dividing  every 
four  or  five  years.  There  are  so  many 
species  cultivated  of  this  class  for  the 
herbaceous  border,  and  they  differ  so 
widely,  that  no  rule  for  their  propa- 
gation and  treatment  will  do  for  all. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  early  fall, 
as  soon  as  the  foliage  or  stems  are 
about  dried  up,  is  the  best  time  to 
transplant,  and  hence  it  is  the  best 
time  to  fill  your  customers'  orders. 

If  you- cultivate  a  row  or  two  of  the 
leading  kinds,  keep  them  in  straight 
lines  and  far  enough  apart  to  run  the 
horse  cultivator  between  them.  Many 
thousand  plants  will  go  on  one  acre, 
but  they  want  keeping  clean  and  must 
be  constantly  hoed,  and  should  be  al- 


121 


Double  Delphiniums. 


ways  plainly  labeled  as  they  are  often 
moved  before  their  growth,  appears. 
One  more  important  thing  is  when  you 
plant  dormant  crowns  of  paeonies, 
phlox,  etc.,  keep  them  two  or  three 
inches  below  the  surface;  the  winter 
will  be  sure  to  raise  them  up. 

Herbaceous  plants  are  always  bene- 
fited by  some  stable  manure  scattered 
between  the  rows  and  over  the  crowns. 
In  their  natural  state  they  would  at 
least  get  the  benefit  of  their  own 
withered  tops,  while  most  of  them 
would  get  a  covering  of  leaves  from 
the  trees  whose  branches  covered 
them.  For  appearance  sake  we  rob 
them  of  their  natural  covering. 

Those  most  useful  to  the  florist  and 
which  have  not  received  notice  in  their 
alphabetical  order  are  as  follows: 

ACHILLEA.  Several  species,  good 
for  rockwork,  easily  divided  in  fall  or 
early  spring. 

ANEMONE  japonica  alba.  This  is  a 
florist's  flower,  and  a  beautiful  fall 
blooming  plant.  Division. 

AQUILEGIA.  The  beautiful  colum- 
bine. There  are  several  magnificent 
species  that  should  be  in  every  garden. 
Seed. 

CAMPANULA.  Several  species. 
Carpathica,  the  Canterbury  Bell,  is 
popular  with  all.  Not  a  florist's  flower, 
but  fine  for  the  border.  Raised  from 
seed,  sown  in  August  in  cold-frame 
and  transplanted  later  a  few  inches 


apart  in  good  soil  in  cold-frame,  where 
they  can  be  protected  during  winter 
and  plant  out  in  permanent  bed  or 
nursery  row  as  soon  as  ground  is  dry 
in  the  spring.  In  other  varieties  when 
stated  that  they  can  be  raised  from 
seed  the  above  directions  will  suit 
them  all. 

COREOPSIS.  "The  best  of  the  spe- 
cies for  the  florist  is  lanceolata.  Grace- 
ful and  beautiful  yellow  flowers.  Seed. 

DELPHINIUMS.  Most  every  one 
knows  the  D.  formosum,  which  is 
often  called  larkspur.  The  improved 
varieties  are  among  the  handsomest 
of  our  hardy  flowers,  and  are  decidedly 
of  value  to  the  florist.  Their  handsome 
spikes,  from  the  lightest  shades  of 
blue  to  indigo,  and  even  to  bronze,  are 
grand  ornaments  for  our  stores,  even 
if  they  do  not  sell;  but  invariably 
those  who  see  them  want  a  plant. 
They  flower  a  long  time,  should  the 
weather  not  be  too  dry,  and  last  a 
long  while  in  water  when  cut.  Seed, 
or  divisions  or  cuttings. 

Cuttings  of  herbaceous  plants  should 
always  be  made  from  the  young  shoots 
of  early  spring,  when  only  a  few  inches 
above  ground.  The  heat  in  our  propa- 
gating houses  then,  which  is  early 
May,  is  often  about  gone,  as  firing  is 
only  then  very  moderate. 

Where  a  considerable  number  of 
these  cuttings  are  to  be  put  in,  such  as 
delphiniums,  phlox  or  pyrethrum, 
there  is  no  place  so  well  adapted  as 


a  hot-bed.  Eighteen  inches  of  manure 
well  and  evenly  trodden  down,  with  a 
few  inches  of  soil  and  then  two  inches 
of  sand,  will  root  any  of  these  plants. 
Give  air  carefully,  shade  from  sun  and 
keep  watered.  When  rooted  give 
plenty  of  air  till  potted  off  and  then 
grow  on  in  cold-frame  all  summer. 
These  will  be  good  plants  in  3  or 
4-inch  pots,  either  to  sell  or  to  plant 
out  in  September  or  October. 

DIELYTRA  (Bleeding  Heart).  Of- 
ten forced,  but  beautiful  and  graceful 
as  D.  spectabilis  is,  it  takes  up  too 
much  room.  A  very  handsome,  hardy 
plant.  Division. 

DIGITALIS.  White  and  purple  and 
yellow;  the  well  known  foxglove. 
Stately  spikes  of  flowers.  Seed. 


Helianthus  Orgyalis. 


8 


J22 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


DORONICUM.  Of  service  to  the 
florist  because  its  bright  yellow  flowers 
are  among  the  first  to  open  after  the 
snow  is  gone.  Division. 

FUNKIA.  The  Day  lily.  There  are 
several  species  of  them,  all  handsome 
leaved  plants.  Division. 

GAILLARDIA  grandiflora.  Showy 
bright  flowers.  Seed. 

HELIANTHUS.  There  are  now  a 
number  of  these  tall  growing  peren- 
nial sunflowers,  many  of  them  very 
useful  to  the  florist.  The  variety  known 
as  multiflorus  flore  plena  became  so 
common  that  it  is  no  longer  acceptable 
even  in  the  cheapest  bunches  of 


MONARDA  didyma.  A  native  north- 
ern plant,  though  not  common.  A  fine 
herbaceous  plant.  Division. 

PAEONIBS.  See  in  their  alphabeti- 
cal order. 

PHLOX.  There  are  several  species 
of  hardy  phlox,  but  it  is  the  hybrids 
and  varieties  of  P.  decussata  that  are 
most  desirable  for  the  border  and  for 
the  florist.  We  have  found  where  they 
can  be  freshly  cut  and  used  they  are 
most  desirable,  but  will  not  travel 
well,  dropping  their  florets  badly.  The 
many  varieties  are  of  beautiful  shades 
and  the  phlox  thrives  in  •  any  soil. 
Cuttings  or  division,  and  for  new  va- 
rieties easily  by  seed. 


Helianthus  Multiflora  Flore  Plena. 


flowers,  but  the  single  species  are  very 
fine.     Seed,  division  or  cuttings. 

HEMEROCALLIiS.  Several  species, 
mostly  yellow  and  orange  flowers. 
Showy  for  the  border,  but  not  a  flor- 
ist's flower.  Seed  or  division. 

HIBISCUS.  Californicus  and  others. 
Fine  showy  flowers.  Seed. 

•      •-.• 

IRIS.  These  have  such  a  fine  spike 
and  curious  but  beautiful  flower  that 
they  are  most  desirable  for  the  florist, 
and  are  wanted  by  every  amateur. 
They  do  best  in  a  rather  moist  soil  and 
root  so  freely  that  every  third  year 
they  should  be  lifted  and  divided. 
There  are  now  many  varieties.  The 
Japanese  have  immense  flowers,  and 
the  I.  germanica,.  or  German  iris,  in- 
cludes now  many*  beautiful  varieties. 
Division. 

LOBELIA  cardinalis.  Not  a  florist's 
flower,  but  most  showy  for  the  border. 
Division  or  seed. 


PYRETHRUM  roseum.  This  is  not 
truly  herbaceous  but  is  so  hardy  we 
will  include  it  in  this  chapter.  The 
improved  varieties,  both  double  and 
single  flowers,  of  this  species  are  now 
truly  a  florist's  flower.  They  are  seen 
in  our  store  windows  in  May  and  June 
and  are  bought  in  preference  to  carna- 
tions. They  are  sometimes  difficult  to 
divide  and  make  thrive,  and  cuttings 
as  described  above  are  best  to  increase 
your  stock.  Few  border  plants  are  so 
well  worthy  of  cultivation. 

RUDBECKIA.  The  single  flowered 
species,  maxima  and  fulgida,  are 
showy  flowers,  yellow  with  dark  disk, 
and  are  sometimes  useful  to  us  as  well 
as  very  fine  border  plants.  But  there 
is  now  a  double  form  known  as  "Gold- 
en Glow,"  which  is  undoubtedly  one 
of  our  finest  hardy  summer  flowers. 
It  is  of  a  rich  yellow.  It  is  much  su- 
perior to  the  dwarf  double  helianthus. 
Seed  or  division. 

To   describe     the     many     desirable 


hardy  herbaceous  plants  would  re- 
quire a  good  sized  catalogue,  and  I 
have  mentioned  but  a  few  of  those 
kinds  which  every  florist  should  grow. 

HARDY  SHRUBS. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  asked  to  reply 
at  one  of  our  annual  conventions  to 
the  query,  "Is  it  advisable  for  the  flor- 
ist to  be  in  a  position  to  supply  to  his 
customers  hardy  shrubs  and  trees?" 
The  question  was  not  probably  just 
that  but  the  sense  was  that.  My  an- 
swer was  brief,  and  certainly  not,  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  business  I  have 
today,  or  to  be  more  modest,  which 
experience  has  compelled  me  to  ab- 
sorb. Division  of  labor  is  most  truly 
the  order  of  the  day,  as  much  in  our 
trade  as  in  others,  but  circumstances 
alter  cases. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  think  of  Mr. 
Kift  or  Mr.  Wienhoeber,  or  Mr.  Thor- 
ley  talking  about  the  best  hedge  to 
plant,  or  a  specialist  like  Charles  D. 
Ball,  or  John  Burton,  or  Dailledouze 
Bros.,  going  out  to  plant  a  group  of 
shrubs.  Their  specialty  is  all  they  can 
do,  or  all  they  need  do.  But  in  smaller 
cities,  among  the  men  who  grow  and 
retail  and  plant  flower  gardens,  there 
is  a  growing  demand  from  their  cus- 
tomers that  they  supply  them  with 
hardy  roses,  hardy  vines,  hedge  plants 
and  shrubs,  and  if  with  shrubs  why 
not  with  ornamental  trees. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  local  nursery- 
man, and  if  there  is  he  is  too  busy  a 
man  in  his  shipping  season  to  bother 
about  retail  orders.  So  who  is  there 
to  supply  the  local  trade?  The  tree 
peddler  is  fast  losing  ground,  his  won- 
derful pictures  and  himself  are  now 
discredited,  and  the  local  florist  is 
called,  for  he  is  responsible.  A  tree 
peddler  who  still  hangs  out  in  the 
same  neighborhood  for  ten  years  past, 
once  told  me  that  "he  did  not  reckon 
to  make  a  second  sale  to  the  same 
person."  Fancy  that,  and  we  expect  to 
make  sales  to  the  same  people  as  long 
as  they  and  we  live.  We  will  make 
our  sales  of  shrubs  or  vines  satisfac- 
tory. If  failure  occurs  the  first  time 
we  try  again. 

In  our  growing  suburbs  and  on  our 
residence  streets  there  is  an  increasing 
and  continuous  demand  for  handsome 
shrubs  and  ornamental  trees,  and  it 
you  have  the  knowledge  what  to  buy 
and  how  and  when  to  plant  you  are 
throwing  away  a  great  chance  if  you 
neglect  this  substantial  part  of  the 
horticultural  profession.  If  you  can't 
show  your  men  how  to  prune  and 
plant  a  shrub  get  a  foreman  that  can. 
but  it  is  an  enormous  advantage  if 
your  early  education  embraced  the 
spade  as  well  as  the  pen. 

We  used  to  deplore  the  absence  in 
our  northern  clime  of  what  are  known 
as  the  broad  leaved  evergreens,  such 
as  the  Sweet  Bay,  arbutus,  aucuba  and 
laurestinus  that  form  the  shrubberies 
of  temperate  Europe,  but  we  believe 
now  that  our  vegetation  in  this  line 
is  just  right  as  it  is,  and  with  our 
snowed  up  winter  the  true  evergreen 
would  look  too  sombre.  How  beauti- 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


J23 


ful  and  inspiring  in  the  warm  days  of 
spring,  after  the  hibernating  days  of 
winter,  to  see  willows  blossom,  and 
later  the  gay  scarlet  flowers  of  Pyrus 
japonica  and  the  yellow  wreathing  of 
forsythia.  And  then  the  many  tinted 
leaves  of  the  hardy  shrubs.  It  is  an 
awakening,  an  annual  treat  and  pleas- 
ure to  the  senses  that  the  monotonous 
sombre  evergreen  cannot  give.  So 
everything  is  right  as  it  is.  And  Ja- 
pan has  to  be  thanked  for  contributing 
a  whole  host  of  our  best  hardy  shrubs. 

Shrubs,  so  called,  are  always  more 
safely  transplanted  than  trees  for  two 
reasons.  They  are  seldom  in  the  nurs- 
ery more  than  two  or  three  years,  and 
even  the  neglect  of  transplanting,  of 
which  our  American  nurserymen  are 
woefully  guilty,  should  they  be  left 
five  or  six  years  in  one  spot,  does  not 
prevent  them  from  making  a  mass  of 
roots,  most  of  which  can  be  lifted.  So 
the  percentage  of  loss  in  transplanting 
shrubs  with  any  ordinary  care  is  very 
low. 

The  time  of  transplanting  varies  a 
week  or  so  with  the  season.  With  a 
dry  season  and  early  frosts  you  can 
plant  from  middle  of  October  till  late 
in  November.  If  you  start  early  in  the 
fall  and  the  leaves  have  not  fallen  off 
the  shrubs,  pull  or  rather  rub  them 
off.  If  they  come  off  easily  no  harm  is 
done.  In  spring  the  transition  from 
winter  to  summer  or  hot  weather  is 
sometimes  very  short  and  affords  the 
planter  but  a  very  brief  time.  Had  we 
a  month  of  cool,  moist  weather  be- 
tween frost  and  the  bursting  of  the 
buds  into  leaf,  I  should  say  that  April 


A  Field  of  Japanese  Iris. 

and  even  May  was  the  best  time  of  all 
to  move  shrubs. 

If  the  buds  are  breaking  and  the 
leaves  showing,  then  the  shrubs  must 
be  severely  cut  back.  Even  if  you 
plant  them  in  the  most  favorable  time 
and  in  the  best  condition,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  shorten  back  the  shoots.  The 
larger  and  taller  the  shrub  the  more 
in  proportion  should  it  be  cut  back. 
Don't  think,  and  don't  let  your  cus- 
tomer think,  there  is  going  to  be  any 
eventual  loss  of  growth  or  size  on  ac- 
count of  this  cutting  back.  The  roots 
are  disturbed,  the  fine  fibrous  roots 
that  are  the  feeders  and  nourishers  of 
the  plant  are  gone  or  inactive,  the 
shortened  supply  of  sap  goes  to  the 
extremities  of  the  shoots  and  a  feeble 
break  or  growth  occurs  at  the  end  of 
the  shoots,  and  the  lower  buds  perish, 
and  then  you  have  bare  stems.  In- 
sist on  it  that  transplanted  shrubs  and 
trees  must  be  pruned,  more  or  less  ac- 
cording to  the  loss  of  roots. 

A  word  here  about  future  pruning. 
No  shrubbery  is  planted  for  all  time. 
Perhaps  where  they  do  well  a  mixed 
belt  of  shrubs  never  looks  better  than 
from  six  to  ten  years  after  they  are 
planted.  Then  they  crowd  each  other. 
Some  grow  tall  and  lose  their  beauty, 
so  a  shrubbery  is  never  finished;  it  is 
a  continual  thinning  out  and  replen- 
ishing. 

In  pruning  distinguish  the  differ- 
ence between  those  that  set  their 
flower  buds  in  the  fall  and  those  that 
flower  on  the  growths  of  the  current 
year.  The  lilac  is  a  good  type  of  the 
former,  and  if  you  prune  severely  in 


winter  and  spring  you  must  cut  away 
the  flower  buds.  You  will  readily  dis- 
tinguish the  difference  in  these  shrubs, 
and  if  they  are  to  be  pruned,  a  good 
time  is  just  after  they  have  done 
flowering,  when  they  have  time  to 
make  more  growth  and  set  more 
flower  buds.  The  latter  type  is  well 
represented  by  our  hardy  roses  and  the 
Hydrangea  paniculata.  The  harder 
back  this  class  of  shrubs  is  pruned  the 
larger  and  better  the  flowers. 

To  revert  once  more  to  plant- 
ing. Many  of  our  hardy  shrubs  will 
exist  in  any  soil,  but  a  quick  and 
thrifty  growth  is  what  our  customers 
want  and  expect,  and  when  planting 
a  group  or  bed  of  shrubs  the  soil 
should  be  dug  a  foot  deep.  Not  mak- 
ing small  holes  for  each  plant,  but  the 
whole  space  dug  deeply,  and  to  it  add 
plenty  of  animal  manure.  Don't  be- 
lieve for  a  moment  that  shrubs  don't 
like  manure.  It  is  just  what  will  make 
them  jump  and  grow. 

When  singly  on  the  lawn,  let  it  be 
either  a  shrub,  tree  or  any  of  the  ever- 
greens, it  is  not  depth  that  is  needed. 
The  hole  to  receive  the  shrub  or  tree 
need  be  only  sufficient  to  let  the  plant 
down  to  the  same  depth  it  stood  in  the 
nursery,  an  inch  or  so  lower  won't 
hurt  many-  of  the  shrubs  but  with  the 
trees  and  the  evergreens  this  is  very 
particular.  When  the  ground  is  set- 
tled round  them  let  it  be  just  about  as 
high  on  the  stem  as  it  was  before  mov- 
ing. 

It  is  width  of  hole  you  want,  and  if 
a  stiff  clay,  not  only  should  width  of 
excavation  be  large  enough  to  enable 


J24 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


you  to  spread  the  roots  out  without 
any  bending  or  crowding,  but  eve'ry 
foot  in  diameter  you  go  beyond  this 
and  fill  in  with  good  soil  will  much  as- 
sist the  growth  and  thriftiness  of  your 
tree. 

It  matters  not  whether  it  is  fall  or 
spring  there  is  only  one  way  to  plant 
a  shrub  or  tree  and  that  is  to  give  its 
roots  plenty  of  room  in  width,  putting 
on  sufficient  soil  to  cover  the  roots, 
and  by  shaking  the  tree  or  shrub  see 
that  the  soil  is  well  distributed  among 
the  roots.  Firm  the  soil  with  your 
feet  an^then  give  it  a  thorough  soak- 
ing. After  the  water  has  soaked  in, 
wetting  root  and  fiber,  fill  in  with 
more  soil  to  the  grade  of  your  bed  or 
border.  This  first  watering  is  worth  ten 
on  the  surface.  If  planting  has  been 
done  in  the  spring  and  we  have  a  very 
dry  summer,  they  will  need  a  soaking 
every  week,  and  if  the  surface  is  cov- 
ered with  a  mulch  of  two  inches  of 
stable  manure  it  will  add  ten  fold  to 
the  benefits  of  the  watering. 

As  I  cannot  afford  a  separate  chapter 
on  our  evergreens,  so  called,  or  more 
properly  our  coniferous  trees,  I  would 
say  that  the  time  of  transplanting 
them  differs  much  from  the  deciduous 
shruts  and  trees. 

Evergreen  conifers,  such  as  the 
pines  and  spruces,  and  all  of  them, 
are  best  moved  in  the  spring  just  as 
the  young  growths  start,  which  is 
often  the  middle  or  end  of  May.  This 
is  a  month  later  than  the  shrub  plant- 
ing time.  The  next  best  time  is  the 
last  week  in  August  or  first  week  in 
September.  After  middle  of  Septem- 
ber don't  attempt  to  move  evergreens. 

There  is  often  a  great  disappoint- 
ment in  planting  spruce,  pines,  etc.  It 
is  not  the  fault  of  the  plants,  although 
in  some  cases  it  is  often  too  crudely 
done.  It  is  in  most  cases  the  fault  of 
the  nurseryman.  Our  American  nur- 
serymen plant  a  Norway  spruce  or 
Australian  pine  from  six  to  ten  inches 
high  and  without  even  transplanting 
let  some  of  them  grow  to  4,  5  or  6  ft., 
and  then  sell  them. 

Whether  they  expect  them  to  grow  I 
don't  know.  They  sell  them  and  thus 
is  their  chief  object  attained.  I  saw 
this  summer,  every  few  days,  several 
hundred  nice  symmetrical  Australian 
pines,  3  to  4  ft.  They  looked  well 
when  planted  this  spring,  but  our 
summer  has  killed  90  per  cent.  These 
fine  little  trees  had  never  been  trans- 
planted in  the  nursery  since  they  were 
ten  inches  high.  And  how  many  of 
their  working  roots  had  been  saved 
when  dug  and  sold,  think  you? 
Scarcely  any. 

There  is,  I  am  glad  to  say,  a  school 
of  young  nurserymen  coming  to  the 
front  who  are  alive  to  this  crude  and 
almost  dishonest  way  of  growing  ever- 
greens, and  soon  in  every  part  of  the 
land  you  will  be  able  to  buy  a  pine 
or  thuya  or  abies  or  spruce  and  plant 
it  with  the  same  confidence  that  we 
plant  the  geranium  in  the  beds,  be- 
cause every  two  years  they  have  had 
a  move  in  the  nursery. 
A  local  "Farmer-fruit  grower-nurs- 


eryman," a  long  title  but  a  correct  one, 
said  the  public  would  not  pay  25  cents 
for  a  transplanted  Norway  spruce 
when  they  could  get  one  that  looked  as 
good  for  10  cents.  He  is  entirely 
wrong.  We  are  all  looking  for  the 
transplanted  tree  that  won't  disap- 
point us  and  our  customers.  I  find 
the  man  of  wealth,  or  even  moderate 
means,  anxious  to  pay  for  the  best. 
It  is  quite  different  from  their  canna 
or  geranium  bed,  which  they  know  is 
for  one  short  season.  Their  trees  and 
shrubs  are  for  the  permanent  improve- 
ment of  their  grounds. 

The  evergreens  like  good  rotten  ani- 
mal manure  just  as  much  as  the  deci- 
duous shrubs,  but  unless  well  rotted 
don't  put  it  in  contact  with  the  roots 
when  planting.  A  little  experience  of 
mine  of  twenty-five  years  ago  will  be 
instructive.  On  both  sides  of  a  Nor- 
way spruce  hedge,  as  near  as  I  could 
get  to  the  stems,  I  forked  in  at  least 
two  inches  of  rotten  stable  manure. 
It  was  done  in  May.  The  trees  made 
a  fine  growth  and  in  attempting  to 
lightly  fork  up  the  surface  the  follow- 
ing spring  I  found  on  both  sides  at 
least  three  feet  from  the  stem,  that 
the  roots  were  just  a  mat  close  to  the 
surface,  and  you  might  as  well  have 
tried  to  fork  up  a  wire  spring  mat- 
tress. 

You  should  acquaint  yourself  with 
the  many  varieties  of  flowering  shrubs 
and  their  habits  and  heights  and  time 
of  flowering,  so  that  they  can  be  ar- 
ranged properly.  The  tallest  growing 
in  the  background,  etc.  Some  of  them 
make  fine  groups  or  beds  when  planted 
of  just  one  kind.  This  is  decidedly 
true  of  the  favorite  Hydrangea  pani- 
culata,  which  makes  a  fine  bed  of  a 
dozen  or  more  plants,  or  even  a  single 
specimen  on  a  lawn. 

A  bed  of  shrubs  that  pleased  me 
very  much  this  summer  was  very  gay 
near  the  entrance  of  our  Forest  Lawn 
Cemetery.  The  center  was  the  com- 
mon purple  barberry  with  an  edging 
of  the  golden  philadelphus.  Another 
bed  was  Prunus  Pissardii  surrounded 
with  the  variegated  cornus.  In  large 
grounds  masses  of  one  species  are  of- 
ten planted,  but  in  private  grounds 
the  mixed  collection  of  shrubs  is  most 
desirable,  for  with  a  proper  selection 
there  are  always  some  in  flower.  But 
the  flower  is  only  a  part  of  their  beau- 
ty. I  cannot  afford  space  to  give  more 
than  a  list  of  the  very  best  shrubs,  in 
recommending  any  of  which  you  will 
not  go  wrong,  and  here  they  are: 

Althea  in  several  varieties. 

Berberis  vulgaris  and  Thunbergii. 

Calycanthus  floridus. 

Corchorus  japonica. 

Cornus  (Dogwood).  Several  species. 
The  variegated  cornus  is  one  of  the 
best  of  all  variegated  shrubs. 

Cydonia  (Pyrus)  japonica. 

Deutzia  crenata,  gracilis  and  scabra. 

Exochorda  grandiflora. 

Forsythia,  several  species;  the  ear- 
liest shrub  in  flower. 

Hydrangea  paniculata  grandiflora. 
There  are  two  or  three  new  species  of 
this  type,  all  fine. 


Ligustrum  (Privet).  The  Galifornian 
ovalifolium  is  most  desirable. 

Lonicera  tartarica.  Tartarian  hon- 
eysuckle. 

Magnolias.  These  are  dwarf  trees 
and  deserve  a  place  on  the  lawn  alone, 
where  they  can  show  off  their  great 
beauty;  several  species. 

Philadelphus  grandiflora.  The  mock 
orange. 

Rhus  cotinus.     Purpjjft  fringe. 

Rhus  glabra  laciniata.  The  cut 
leaved  sumach.  A  most  beautiful 
shrub  or  dwarf  tree. 

Sambucus  aurea.  Golden  elder. 
Most  showy  in  early  summer. 

Spiraea.  This  large  genus  has  given 
us  some  of  Our  finest  flowering  shrubs. 
Billardii,  bumalda,  Douglasii,  pruni- 
folia,  Reevesii,  Thunbergii  and  Van 
Hotittei  are  all  grand,  splendid  shrubs. 

Staphylea  colchica.  The  bladder  nut. 

Symphoricarpus.  The  snowberry. 
Several  species. 

Syringa.  The  well  known  lilac. 
Several  species  and  varieties,  and  now 
some  fine  double  forms. 

Viburnum.  The  snowball.  Plica- 
turn  and  opulis. 

Weiglia.  Many  varieties.  Rose,  red 
and  white  flowers  and  variegated  fo- 
liage. 

The  above  is  not  a  collection  but 
merely  a  selection.  Many  desirable 
kinds  could  be  added.  I  have  not  in- 
cluded any  of  the  broad  leaved  ever- 
green shrubs,  as  there  are  so  few. 
Daphne  cneorum  does  deserve  a  place 
in  every  garden.  Euonymus  radicans 
variegata  is  used  for  the  margins  of 
shrubberies.  Mahonia  aquifolia,  with 
its  racemes  of  yellow  flowers  and  pur- 
ple fruit,  is  a  beautiful  holly-leaved 
like  shrub,  but  unless  shaded  from  the 
March  suns  it  burns  badly. 

Neither  have  I  said  anything  about 
the  rhododendrons,  kalmias,  or  hardy 
azaleas.  Where  these  American  plants 
do  well  cultivated,  as  they  do  so  finely 
at  Wellesley,  Mass.,  and  doubtless 
many  other  places,  they  are  beautiful 
and  desirable,  but  in  a  limestone  dis- 
trict, without  a  great  labor  of  trans- 
porting suitable  soil,  and  again  with 
our  zero  nights  and  bright  days,  they 
are  useless,  and  to  plant  them  is  a 
fraud.  They  are  a  fit  article  for  the 
tree  peddler  who  never  goes  back  af- 
ter the  bill  is  collected,  and  who  is 
usually  nomadic  in  his  habits,  like..the 
Parthians  of  old. 

We  have  not  such  a  long  list  of 
evergreens  or  conifers  and  our  win- 
ters bar  us  from  planting  many  of 
great  b.eauty  that  thrive  in  the  British 
Isles,  but  we  have  yet  a  good  variety. 
You  are  usually,  advised  to  plant  small. 


EVERGREENS  and 
HARDY  SHRUBS 

FOR  FLORISTS. 

Descriptive  Catalogue  Free. 

SAMUEL  C.  MOON,     -     -     Morrisville.  Pa. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J25 


Good  advice,  so  long  as  nurserymen 
won't  furnish  you  a  tree  that  has  been 
transplanted  and  furnished  with  a 
compact  ball  of  roots. 

You  must  remember  that  many  of 
the  evergreens  that  are  hardy  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York  and  Boston  are 
useless  in  land  in  the  latitude  of  Chi- 
cago, and  many  are  catalogued  as 
hardy,  such  as  Cedrus  deodara  and  Cu- 
pressus  Lawsoniana.  They  are  use- 
less in  our  vicinity.  It  is  not  only 
the  low  temperature  but  some  other 
climatic  influence  that  kills  them  or 
leaves  them  stunted,  crippled  objects. 

Several  of  the  abies  are  fine,  includ- 
ing alba,  white  spruce;  canadensis, 
hemlock  spruce,  and  excelsa,  Norway 
spruce,  many  forms  of  it.  Several 
junipers,  the  Irish,  Swedish  and  our 
own  red  cedar,  J.  virginiana.  Picea 
pungens,  the  Colorado  blue  spruce,  is 
the  most  beautiful  of  our  conifers,  and 
P.  balsamea,  P.  concolor  and  P.  Nord- 
maniana,  are  fine  trees.  The  pines  are 
the  noblest  of  the  conifers.  The  Aus- 
trian is  one  of  our  hardiest  trees,  and 
so  is  P.  sylvestris,  the  Scotch  pine. 
P.  strobus,  our  native  white  pine,  and 
P.  cembra,  the  stone  pine. 

The  retinosporas  are  dense  growing, 
compact  evergreens,  and  are  good  and 
hardy.  The  Thuyas  (arbor-vitae) 
make  handsome  trees.  T.  occidentalis 
is  our  yellow  or  white  cedar,  and  T. 
orientalis  is  the  Siberian  or  Chinese 
arbor-vitae,  a  very  compact,  hardy  ev- 
ergreen. Taxodium  distichum,  the 
southern  cypress,  though  deciduous, 


Garden  of  Hardy  Plants  in  a  Public  Park. 

like  our  American  larch,  is  a  conifer 
and  makes  a  splendid  specimen  for  our 
lawns,  and  the  giants  of  the  south 
provide  us  with  its  invaluable  timber. 
For  dwarf  evergreens  the  taxus  (yew) 
are  unequaled.  They  are  hardy  and 
have  several  ornamental  forms. 

It  is  characteristic  of  many  of  the 
conifers  that  they  vary  much  in  form 
and  color,  hence  the  many  varieties 
that  are  now  known,  and  to  this  varia- 
tion we  owe  the  several  golden  forms 
we  have  in  the  thuyas,  taxus  and  reti- 
nosporas. 

I  have  said  nothing  about  propaga- 
tion of  the  shrubs  because  that  is 
a  nurseryman's  business,  and  unless 
you  are  in  the  business  to  some  ex- 
tent you  had  better  buy  the  shrubs 
from  reputable  nurserymen.  Even 
they  depend  largely  on  importing 
small  plants  from  France  from  spe- 
cialists who  raise  millions  of  the  lead- 
ing varieties  and  supply  them  at  a 
seemingly  very  low  cost.  If  you  have 
a  few  acres  of  good  light  soil,  easy 
to  work,  it  would  be  a  good  invest- 
ment to  buy  a  thousand  or  so  of  small 
plants  of  the  leading  kinds  and  in 
two  years  you  will  have  shrubs  that 
you  can  sell  your"  customers  with  the 
greatest  confidence. 

The  long  list  of  noble  trees  I  can- 
not enter  on.  Nurserymen  publish  de- 
scriptive catalogues  of  all  desirable 
kinds.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  trans- 
planting large  trees  from  the  woods  of 
our  native  elms  and  maples.  They 
survive  a  few  years,  but  generally  col- 
lapse in  three  or  four, 


HEATING. 

There  are  only  two  recognized  meth- 
ods of  heating  our  glass  structures, 
steam  and  hot  water.  Brick  flues  have 
gone  and  electricity  has  not  come, 
but  it  may.  Some  fifteen  years  ago 
heating  greenhouses  by  steam  came 
with  a  rush,  although  it  had  long  been 
used  as  a  means  of  heating  dwellings 
and  large  buildings.  Men  who  had 
.been  at  first  most  sanguine  about  its 
superiority  over  water  began  to  hesi- 
tate and  consider  whether  after  all 
hot  water  had  not  the  most  advan- 
tages. A  patriarch  of  the  business, 
Mr.  Peter  Henderson,  being  asked  by 
the  writer  in  1889  which  was  the  best 
way  to  heat,  inquired  what  system  I 
was  then  using.  On  being  'told  "hot 
water,"  the  reply  came  quick  and 
brief,  "Keep  on  with  the  hot  water." 

But  after  all  this  ebb  and  flow  of 
popular  favor  it  is  now  well  estab- 
lished that  with  an  improved  system 
of  piping,  steam  for  many  establish- 
ments is  the  cheapest  and  best,  and 
although  by  no  means  claiming  to 
know  of  steam  what  I  do  of  the  circu- 
lation of  water,  we  will  first  consider 

Steam  Heating. 

Steam  as  applied  to  heating  green- 
houses has  several  advantages  over 
water.  Heat  is  quickly  produced  by 
steam  and  sent  through  the  houses 
in  case  of  a  quick  fall  of  the  outside 
temperature.  It  is  also  quickly  re- 
duced or  entirely  absent  in  the  pipes 
should  you  see  in  the  early  morning 


J26 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


that  it  is  going  to  be  a  bright,  warm 
day  and  no  steam  heat  will  be  need- 
ed. This  I  consider  one  of  its  very 
best  features,  for  we  all  know  how  we 
have  suffered  with  over  heated  houses 
when  the  water  in  the  pipes  would  not 
cool. 

With  a  number  of  pipes  and  a  valve 
at  each,  a  house  with  steam  and  prop- 
er attention  can  be  kept  at  almost 
the  desired  degree.  It  is  cheaper  to 
put  in  a  steam  plant.  The  piping  is 
much  cheaper,  sufficiently  less  to  off- 
set the  larger  cost  of  boiler. 

Steam  is  undoubtedly  the  best  sys- 
tem when  a  block  of  houses  is  devoted 
to  one  purpose,  but  where  two  rose 
houses  and  two  carnation  houses  are 
heated  by  one  boiler  it  would  not  be 
so  economical,  because  a  month  or 
more  after  no  heat  was  needed  in  the 
carnation  houses  you  would  have  to 
still  make  steam  for  the  rose  houses. 

Where  a  dozen  houses  are  used  for 
many  different  plants  water  is  to  be 
preferred.  Water  can  be  heated  to  a 
temperature  of  say  140  degrees,  just 
sufficient  to  take  the  chill  off  the 
house;  a  very  slow  burning  fire  will 
do  this.  With  steam  you  must  have 
sufficient  fire  to  make  steam  or  you 
may  as  well  have  no  fire  at  all.  If 
you  wish  only  to  fill  one  1-inch  pipe 
the  boiler  must  be  full  of  steam  or 
none  will  pass  into  the  pipe.  Steam 
is  most  convenient  for  evaporating  to- 
bacco. Altogether  steam  is  the  plan 
for  large  establishments,  where  four 
or  five  houses  will  want  heat  at  the 
same  time,  and  water  is  the  best  for 
houses  where  less  quantities  but  great- 
er variety  is  grown. 

Cast  iron  boilers  of  several  makes 
are  used  by  greenhouse  men  to  gener- 
ate steam,  but  wherever  there  is  much 
work  to  be  done  a  steel  tubular  boiler 
is  the  best.  If  for  locomotives,  steam- 
ships and  factories  the  tubular  boiler 
is  the  best,  why  is  it  not  the  best  for 
the  greenhouse  with  some  modifica- 
tion of  the  way  the  fire  is  applied. 

I  have  seen  some  greenhouse  boilers 
where  the  fire  or  heat  from  it  first 
passed  under  the  whole  length  of  the 
boiler,  then  returned  to  the  front  by 
half  of  the  flues  and  again  returned 
to  the  rear  by  the  other  half  of  the 
flues.  We  believe  that  was  overdoing 
it.  On  returning  the  third  time  the 
smoke  would  be  so  cool  that  it  could 
not  help  in  making  steam,  therefore 
it  was  no  help.  If  the  draught  is 
carried  through  one  set  of  tubes  and 
back  by  another  you  will  have  all  out 
of  the  fuel  that  can  be  got  towards 
making  steam. 

Many  prefer  to  use  old  marine  boil- 
ers that  have  been  condemned  for  use 
where  high  pressure  was  needed.  They 
may  last  a  long  time,  but  as  in  every- 
thing else  a  new  boiler  made  for  you 
is  the  cheapest  in  the  end. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that 
the  boiler  should  be  well  down  under 
its  work.  The  working  of  a  steam 
boiler  when  well  down  will  be  so  much 
more  satisfactory  over  one  that  has  to 
return  the  condensed  steam  by  an  au- 
tomatie  pump  or  trap,  that  any  ex- 
pense in  the  way  of  excavation  or 


sewer  is  warranted.  Keep  the  boiler 
down  so  that  there  is  a  perfect  and 
unobstructed  return  to  the  boiler.  If 
the  top  of  the  boiler  is  two  feet  lower 
than  your  return  pipes  in  the  house 
you  are  all  right,  but  if  convenient 
lower  still  is  better. 

The  size  of  pipe  that  you  lead  out  of 
the  boiler  and  the  branches  attached 
leading  to  the  different  houses  will 
depend  on  the  number  and  size  of  the 
houses.  To  illustrate.  If  you  were 
heating  six  rose  houses  from  one  boil- 
ery,  or  battery  of  boilers,  you  would 
start  with  a  6-inch;  the  first  two  hous- 
es would  be  tapped  from  the  6-inch, 
after  which  the  main  could  be  reduced 
to  a  4-inch  and  from  it  feed  two  more 
houses.  Then  the  main  pipe  could  be 
reduced  to  a  3-inch  and  supply  one 
more  house;  and  reducing  the  main  to 
a  2-inch  would  be  enough  for  the  sixth 
house.  But  be  on  the  safe  side  and 
have  good  sized  pipes  for  supply.  I 
may  have  given  even  a  smaller  sized 
pipe  for  the  supply  than  is  judicious. 

The  arrangement  of  steam  pipes  is 
very  like  the  modern  way  of  arrang- 
ing pipes  for  hot  water.  They  are  us- 
ually carried  up  in  the  shed  above  the 
doorways  for  convenience  sake.  Just 
here  let  me  say  that  all  the  steam 
pipes  should  be  well  covered  with 
asbestos,  mineral  wool,  or  some  such 
material;  if  exposed  much  condensa- 
tion would  occur. 

When  steam  was  first  used  in  green- 
houses, and  maybe  in  some  places  yet, 
the  main  pipe  or  flow,  a  2%  or  3-inch, 
was  carried  along  a  foot  or  two  from 
the  roof,  and  at  the  end  dropped  into 
manifolds  and  returned  in  a  number 
o£  1-inch  pipes,  either  on  the  side  or 
under  the  benches.  That  is  a  very 
poor  way  to  heat.  Your  hottest  pipe 
was  where  it  was  of  little  benefit  and 
if  it  had  a  long  way  to  travel  and  a 
low  pressure  the  steam  would  be  con- 
densed before  it  reached  the  small 
pipes  on  which  you  depended  mostly 
for  your  heat.  , 

On  entering  the  house  run  your  2- 
inch  pipe  into  a  manifold  and  from 
that  carry  along  your  small  pipes;  1- 
inch  is  considered  the  most  economi- 
cal for  steam.  The  pipes  can  be  on 
the  side  wall,  the  best  place  of  all,  or 
under  the  benches.  From  the  shed  or 
boiler  end  drop  the  pipes  slightly  (two 
inches  in  a  hundred  feet  is  enough) 
and  return  the  same  way.  '  Drop 
enough  back  to  the  boiler  to  empty 
the  pipes  is  enough.  For  a  return  a 
1-inch  will  do  for  five  flows.  On  reach- 
ing the  shed  let  all  the  returns  enter 
one  2-inch  pipe  and  when  convenient 
drop  into  the  bottom  of  the  boiler. 
The  arrangement  of  steam  pipes  is 
more  simple  than  hot  water.  You  can 
drive  steam  but  water  will  only  flow 
by  a  natural  law. 

I  cannot  give  any  quantities  of  pipe 
for  a  given  house  better  than  one  I 
saw  working  last  winter.  It  was  at 
Mr.  John  H.  Dunlop's,  of  Toronto, 
Canada,  remember.  The  house  (a 
rose  house,  short-span-to-the-south), 
was  22  ft.  wide  and  200  ft.  long.  The 
pipes  were  1-inch  on  the  side  wall,  and 
two  1%-inch  about  eight  inches  from 


the  roof,  several  feet  apart.  All  these 
pipes  were  filled  direct  from  the  main 
supply  (not  running  200  feet  and  used 
as  returns).  On  the  two  side  walls 
there  were  five  1-inch  on  each  only. 
There  was  a  1-inch  return  for  each 
side,  and  that  for  the  five  1-inch  flows 
was  ample. 

This  Deemed  to  me  remarkably  little 
pipe,  and  Mr.  Dunlop  assured  me  that 
at  JO  below  zero  they  could  keep  56 
degrees  with  ease  with  about  10  Ibs. 
of  steam,  and  very  seldom  used  the 
entire  five  pipes.  He  attached  great, 
importance  to  the  lV4-inch  pipes  near 
the  roof  in  extremely  cold  weather,  al- 
though in  ordinary  times  they  were 
not  used.  The  pipes  near  the  glass 
seemed  to  prevent  that  cold  wave 
which  in  the  best  of  houses  seems  to 
strike  you  on  very  cold  nights  and 
which  is  of  course  the  air  when  sud- 
denly cooled  dropping  rapidly  to  the 
lowest  point  in  the  house.  This  is 
about  half  the  surface  of  pipe  that 
would  be  required  with  hot  water, 
however  well  heated.  Near  the  man- 
ifold, where  the  supply  enters  the 
house,  every  pipe  should  have  a  valve, 
so  that  you  can  use  just  as  many  or 
as  few  as  weather  compels. 

It  is  usual  where  a  large  amount  of 
steam  is  used  that  two  or  more  boilers 
are  required.  Perhaps  you  will  us<> 
only  one  a  great  part  of  the  season, 
and  in  several  months  your  whole 
power,  but  one  boiler  should  never  be 
depended  on.  In  case  of  a  breakdown 
you  may  lose  more  in  one  night  than 
two  or  three  boilers  would  cost,  and 
it  is  both  in  hot  water  and  steam  poor 
economy  to  have  boilers  that  are  just 
able  to  keep  your  houses  comfortable 
in  ordinary  cold  weather,  for  when  ex- 
tremes come,  having  no  reserve  power, 
you  will  suffer. 

If  your  boiler  is  not  big  enough  or 
you  are  deficient  in  pipes  on  these  oc- 
casions you  will  be  sending  fuel  up 
the  chimney  in  vain,  besides  the  in- 
jury to  your  crops.  Put  up  your  boil- 
er and  pipes  with  the  understanding 
that  you  want  a  certain  heat  in  your 
houses  when  the  wind  is  blowing  forty 
miles  an  hour  and  zero  outside.  Then 
when  it  is  20  degrees  of  frost  and  a 
clear,  still  night  you  will  be  in  clover. 
In  fact  you  will  have  "coal  to  burn." 
Not  only  on  the  small  heating  pipes 
should  you  have  valves,  but  on  all 
the  main  pipes  leading  to  each  house. 
I  have  found  repeatedly  that  in  hot 
water  heating  with  small  pipes  it  is 
wise  economy  to  put  in  a  valve  where- 
ever  there  is  a  possibility  of  your 
wanting  to  make  an  alteration  or  ad- 
dition, or  shut  off  one  house  while 
using  others.  Don't  spare  the  valves, 
you  can  hardly  tell  when  their  need 
will  occur. 

Steam  boilers  with  a  good  draught 
will  burn  a  much  inferior  grade  of 
coal  than  a  cast  iron  hot  water  heat- 
er, and  seldom  that  anthracite  coal  is 
used.  The  cheaper  the  fuel,  however, 
the  more  of  it,  and  more  attention 
is  needed. 

Where  steam  is  used  a  night  fire- 
man is  a  necessity,  and  one  should  be 
on  the  place  at  all  hours  of  the  night. 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


127 


Our  Base  Burning  Heater. 


233  Mercer  SI....NEW  YORK  CITY, 

Horticultural  Architects  and 
...Builders... 

LARGEST  MANUFACTURERS  OF 

GREENHOUSE  HEATING  AND 

VENTILATING 

BUR  BASE  BURNING      APPARATUS. 
HEATERS 

Specially  Designed  for  Small  Conservatories. 


|UR  WELL-KNOWN 

CORRUGATED  FIRE  BOX 
BOILERS 

are  especially  designed  for  greenhouse  heating,  for 
houses  or  ranges  having  from  J,000  to  4,500  square 
feet  of  exposed  sash. 

They  are  universally  acknowledged  by  florists  to 
be  the  most  economical,  durable  and  satisfactory  green- 
house boilers  on  the  market. 


Our  New  Sectional  Tubular  Boiler. 


Our  Well-Known  Corrugated  Fire  Box  Boiler. 


BUR  NEW  SECTIONAL 
TUBULAR  BOILERS  ..... 

designed  especially  for  large  greenhouses  or  ranges  containing  4,500 
square  feet  of  sash  and  upwards.  They  are  efficient,  economical  and 
rapid  in  the  production  and  circulation  of  Hot  Water.  Being  sectional 
they  can  be  easily  handled  and  readily  passed  through  a  narrow  door  or 
stairway.  The  Grates  are  our  well-known  patent  shaking  and  dumping 
grates,  which  have  given  such  universal  satisfaction,  and  are  made  for 
pea  coal,  or  larger  coal  as  may  be  preferred. 


Ventilating  Apparatus. 

Our  perfect  self-locking  sash  operating  apparatus  is  acknowledged 
to  be  the  most  efficient  and  reliable  device  for  operating  greenhouse  ven- 
tilating sash. 

See  page  113  for  our  advertisement  on  Greenhouse  Construction. 


J28 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Heating  by  steam  is  very  simple  and 
if  the  water  gauge  is  watched  has  no 
possible  danger.  Rise  to  a  conven- 
ient height  with  your  main  pipe,  drop 
from  that  to  the  time  the  condensed 
steam  enters  bottom  of  boiler  again. 
Keep  the  boilers  well  down,  and  with 
four  or  five  pounds  of  steam  you  will 
heat  a  large  establishment  with  less 
fuel  and  less  labor  than  by  any  other 
method. 

Healing  by  Hot  Water. 

I  beg  most  humbly  to  submit  that 
using  small  wrought  iron  pipe  in  hot 
water  heating  is  as  much  in  advance 
over  the  old  cast  iron  4-inch  pipe  as 
the  4-inch  pipe  was  over  the  brick 
flues.  The  4Tinch  cast  iron  pipe  will 
heat  a  house  very  well,  and  so  did  the 
stage  coach  take  an  emigrant  from 
New  York  to  Buffalo,  but  not  as 
quickly  or  as  cheaply.  It  seems  al- 
most irresistible  now  we  are  out  of  it, 
to  smile  and  partly  shudder  at  the 
cumbersome  old  pipe  associated  with 
hands  covered  with  red  lead  or  iron 
borings,  Portland  cement,  etc.,  lying 
on  your  back  at  some  difficult  joint, 
fingers  hammered  up^in  fact  a  week 
or  two  of  a  miserable  time. 

It  would  be  useless  to  speak  of  the 
disadvantages  of  the  large  cast  iron 
pipes.  Just  one  feature,  an  alteration 
or  addition  to  the  piping,  was  a  dread- 
ful affair.  The  general  use  now,  at 
least  among  the  commercial  men,  of 
the  wrought  iron  pipe  has  made  that 
important  part  of  greenhouse  con- 
struction an  easy  job,  in  fact  a  pleas- 
ure. .  Two  years  ago  I  remember  as- 
sisting at  piping  a  violet  house  125  ft. 
long  and  20  ft.  wide.  At  each  side 
hung  on  the  posts  we  put  three  2-inch 
pipes.  The  pipes  had  been  resting  un- 
der an  apple  tree  for  several  weeks  and 
when  the  man  hollered  out  that  the 
brackets  for  holding  the  pipe  were  on 
the  posts  it  was  perhaps  two  hours' 
work  for  one  man.  Four  of  us  lifted 
the  pipes,  put  them  in  place  and 
screwed  them  together  in  just  two 
hours.  Of  course  there  was  work  left 
around  the  heater  and  a  few  small  fit- 
tings at  the  end,  but  fancy  the  differ- 
ence between  putting  up  those  six 
runs  of  2-inch  pipe  and  say  four  runs 
of  cast  iron  4-inch,  with  brick  piers, 
etc.  And  how  could  you  have  got  the 
47inch  cast  iron  pipes  a  foot  above  the 
violets,  the  best  place  for  them?  I 
will  give  it  up,  as  it  would  be  a  conun- 
drum of  which  a  solution  is  not  a  ne- 
cessity. 

A  4-inch  pipe  holds  16  times  as  much 
water  as  a  1-inch,  but  its  radiating 
surface  is  only  four  times  as  much.  So 
you  have  to  heat  four  times  as  much 
water  in  a  4-inch  pipe  as  in  a  1-inch 
pipe,  for  the  same  amount  of  radia- 
tion. That  is  on  the  face  of  it  over- 
whelming evidence  in  favor  of  the 
smaller  pipe,  but  there  may  be  some 
slight  influences  that  bring  these 
great  advantages  a  trifle  low- 
er than  odds  of  four  to  one. 
Friction  retarding  circulation,  you 
will  be  told,  is  an  objec- 
tion to  small  pipe.  I  don't  attach 
much  importance  to  it,  if  the  pipes  are 


laid  to  a  true  grade.  Then,  they  will 
tell  you  that  smaller  pipe  radiates  so 
fast  that  the  heat  goes  out  of  the  wat- 
er too  quickly.  So  it  does,  but  in  ra- 
diating you  get  the  heat  into  the 
house,  which  is  just  what  you  are  af- 
ter, and  with  much  diminished  volume 
of  water  you  can  make  it  hotter  with 
less  fire. 

Supposing  we  acknowledge  that 
there  is  some  truth  about  the  greater 
friction  and  the  rapid  cooling.  If 
there  were  not,  you  have  a  superior 
system  over  the  large  4-inch  as  four 
is  to  one.  We  will  take  off  one-fourth 
and  still  the  smaller  pipe  has  a  su- 
periority of  three  to  one.  Tremendous 
odds.  To  illustrate  the  difference  I 
have  taken  1-inch  pipe,  but  that  is 
rather  small.  The  smallest  we  use  is 
1 1-4-inch,  and  150  feet  is  as  far  from 
the  boiler  as  you  should  expect  these 
small  pipes  to  do  good  service. 

One  more  comparison.  I  have  sev- 
eral carnation  houses  which  are  heat- 
ed with  wrought  iron  pipe.  Take  one 
19  ft.  wide.  On  each  side  on  the  post 
a  few  inches  under  the  plate  there  is  a 
2-inch  flow  running  to  the  farther  end 
and  returning  with  five  1 1-4-inch 
pipes.  They  are  attached  to  a  very 
competent  heater,  and  during  the 
worst  weather  that  house  has  not  been 
below  45  degrees.  It  would  take  at 
least  three  4-inch  pipes  on  each  side 
to  keep  that  house  at  45  degrees  on 
the  coldest  nights.  Let  us  see  the 
comparative  water  and  radiation  be- 
tween the  large  and  small  pipes.  In 
the  large  pipes,  in  round  figures,  I 
have  about  72  inches  of  radiation,  or 
864  inches  to  every  lineal  foot  of  pip- 
ing. While  in  the  smaller  I  have 
about  720  ft.  of  radiation  for  every 
lineal  foot.  Not  quite  so  much,  you 
see.  But  against  that  I  have  to  heat 
in  the  big  pipes  about  720  cubic  inches 
of  water  to  every  foot  of  piping  and  in 
the  smaller  pipes  less  than  250  cubic 
inches. 

Now,  don't  you  think  that  with  less 
fuel  I  can  heat  that  much  smaller  body 
of  water  to  a  far  greater  heat?  I  am 
sure  I  can,  and  do  do  it,  and  if  the 
water  comes  back  cooled  it  accelerates 
circulation.  I  will  assert  that  by  this 
system  the  pipes  at  125  feet  from  the 
boiler  are  just  about  as  hot  as  steam; 
perhaps  it  is  within  a  degree  or  two. 
There  has  been  a  most  terrible  lot  of 
rubbish  and  theories  ventilated  about 
hot  water  heating  within  twenty 
years,  mostly  by  men  who  never  saw 
a  good  system  put  up  or  ever  studied 
the  law  by  which  hot  water  circulates. 
Telling  people  that  you  can  place  a 
hot  water  heater  on  the  surface  of 
the  ground  and  get  good  results  is 
wild  talk,  and  the  overhead  heating 
craze  would  have  been  laughable  if 
it  had  not  misled  some  people.  One 
scientist  said  overhead  heating  was 
right  because  our  natural  heat  came 
from  above.  On  that  theory  the  gen- 
tleman should  have  taken  when  chilly 
a  seat  on  Pike's  Peak  with  an  icicle 
for  a  cushion,  for  he  would  have  been 
nearer  the  source  of  heat. 

Some  forty-five  years  ago,    perhaps 


before,  there  was  published  in  London 
by  Hood  a  volume  on  hot  water. 
There  has  never  been  a  better  work  on 
the  same  subject  since.  We  may  have 
found  out  better  and  cheaper  modes 
of  applying  it  than  prevailed  in  his 
day,  but  all  the  laws  of  circulation 
which  he  demonstrates  so  finely  are 
just  the  same  today  and  always  will 
be,  for  they  are  natural  laws,  and  can 
never  be  altered.  Hood  says  that  the 
circulation  of  hot  water  was  well 
known  by  the  Romans,  and  used  for 
heating  their  baths,  so  this  wonder- 
fully useful  method  of  warming  our 
houses  did  not  originate  in  London, 
New  York  or  Kalamazoo. 

Why  the  hot  water  goes  out  of  the 
flow  pipe  and  the  cold  water  enters  is 
illustrated  by  Hood  by  two  vessels, 
each  holding  a  few  gallons  of  water, 
say  two  6-inch  pipes,  each  three  feet 
high,  with  a  1-inch  pipe  and  valve 
connecting  them  at  the  bottom.  Fill 
one  of  the  pipes  with  water  the  tem- 
perature of  50  degrees  and  the  other 
at  a  temperature  of  150  degrees,  filling 
both  to  exactly  the  same  level.  Open 
the  valve  and  the  hot  water  will  im- 
mediately rise  to  a  higher  level  than 
the  cold,  because  the  cold  is  of  greater 
specific  gravity  than  the  hot,  and  has 
forced  it  to  a  higher  level. 

Now  this  illustrates  the  motive  pow- 
er that  first  starts  the  circulation  of 
hot  water.  It  is  the  difference  be- 
tween the  weight  of  the  water  in  the 
return  pipe  and  that  in  the  boiler. 
The  water  in  the  boiler  being  made 
lighter  by  the  fire,  the  colder  and 
heavier  water  forces  it  up  and  is  re- 
placed with  cold  water,  so  it  must  fol- 
low that  the  higher,  and  consequently 
heavier,  the  column  of  water  in  the 
return  pipe  the  faster  will  be  your 
circulation.  And  it  follows  again  that 
the  faster  the  circulation  the  hotter 
will  your  pipes  be,  for  the  water  re- 
turning quickly  to  the  fire  has  not 
time  to  get  cool.  When  your  return 
pipe  near  the  boiler  is  nearly  as  hot 
as  the  flow  where  it  leaves  the  boiler 
your  circulation  is  perfect.  All  of 
which  goes  to  prove  that  the  lower 
the  boiler  the  better  the  apparatus 
will  work. 

Reserve  all  your  drop  till  you  get 
near  the  boiler  and  then  drop  per- 
pendicularly down.  This  talk  about 
giving  the  pipes  a  rise  of  a  foot  in  one 
hundred,  or  the  same  drop,  is  all  bosh. 
If  the  pipes  were  a  dead  level  in  the 
house  it  would  be  perfect,  but  it  is 
better  to  have  a  rise  or  fall  of  two 
inches  in  a  hundred  feet  because  you 
want  when  emptying  the  pipes  to  have 
a  drain  out.  Providing  your  boiler  is 
well  down,  and  that  is  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  whole  job,  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  you  have  a  slight 
rise  in  the  flow  pipes  in  the  house  or  a 
slight  fall.  But  for  several  reasons, 
matters  of  simplicity  and  convenience, 
I  prefer  after  having  at  once  raised  to 
the  highest  point  over  the  boiler  that 
from  there  on  there  shall  be  a  con- 
tinual fall.  Don't  forget  that  one  inch 
in  a  hundred  feet,  if  truly  laid,  is  far 
better  than  two  feet,  because  you  re- 
serve all  your  drop  till  you  get  to  the 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


129 


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J30 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


boiler.  This  is  the  most  important 
point  of  all. 

All  kinds  of  boilers  are  used,  in  fact 
half  the  florists  in  the  country  have 
invented  one  of  their  own,  and  it 
looked  a  few  years  ago  as  if  it  was  a 
case  of  "every  man  his  own  boiler 
maker."  There  are  any  amount  in  the 
market,  some  most  excellent  and  some 
I  have  that  cost  a  good  deal  of  money, 
that  as  soon  as  I  can  afford  it  will 
be  broken  up  and  sold  to  "Isaac"  for 
junk  before  they  have  a  chance  to 
cripple  me  by  cracking  on  a  cold 
night. 

Some  people  praise  or  condemn  a 
boiler  without  a  fair  test  of  what  work 
it  is  doing,  and  unless  they  have  houses 
of  the  same  dimensions  and  piped  alike 
they  can't  compare  one  with  the  other. 
Now,  I  happen  to  have  four  houses, 
each  19x125,  built  exactly  to  an  inch 
alike  and  piped  to  one  inch  the  same. 
One  pair  of  houses  leads  out  of  the 
shed  to  the  west,  and  the  other  pair  to 
the  east.  As  before  stated  everything 
is  identical  about  the  two  pair  of  hous- 
es except  the  heaters.  They  are  of  a 
different  make.  I  notice  the  boys  at- 
tend to  one  twice  as  often  as  the  other. 
I  also  have  noticed  that  a  third  more 
ashes  are  taken  from  that  one  than 
the  other.  The  damper  of  the  first  one 
is  frequently  wide  open  while  of  the 
other  it  is  never  more  than  half  out. 
And  it  is  also  well  known  to  my  son 
that  the  one  that  takes  the  least  fuel 
(hard  coke,  not  gas  house  coke)  will 
keep  the  houses  five  degrees  higher 
than  the  extravagant  one.  And  re- 
markable to  say,  but  absolutely  true, 
the  economical  one  had  a  small  violet 
house  125x11  tacked  on  to  it  three 
years  ago,  which  is  finely  heated  by 
six  runs  of  1 1-4  inch  pipe  and  the  fol- 
lowing winter  it  took  actually  less  fuel 
than  it  did  the  previous  winter.  That, 
of  course,  was  on  account  of  its  being 
a  mild  winter. 

Now  here  is  a  test.  I  can  speak  of 
the  relative  merits  of  these  two  boilers 
with  some  authority,  and  it  is  only 
fair  as  I  am  writing  for  the  benefit  of 
my  brother  florists,  to  say  that  this 
most  excellent  cast  iron  sectional  boil- 
er is  "The  Royal,"  made  by  Hart  & 
Grouse,  of  Utica,  N.  Y.  For  that  kind 
of  boiler  it  is  about  ideal,  and  the  one 
tested  with  it  is  by  no  means  the  one  I 
am  going  to  sell  for  $1.75. 

If  I  describe  how  the  houses  are  piped 
it  will' be  a  better  means  of  conveying 
my  ideas  than  any  instructions.  The 
top  of  the  boiler  is  about  two  feet  be- 
low the  floor  of  the  greenhouse.  It 
would  have  been  lower  could  I  have 
got  sewerage.  The  flow  pipe,  a  3-iuch 
(there  is  one  on  each  side  of  boiler 
but  that  makes  no  difference),  rises  up 
straight  to  about  8  feet  above  floor  of 
shed.  There  is  an  elbow  on  top  with 
a  piece  of  3-inch  pipe  leading  over 
close  to  wall  of  greenhouse,  and  then 
a  T  with  2-inch  openings  from  which 
a  pipe  leads  to  right  and  left,  running 
over  the  door  ways. 

Now  the  elbow  on  top  of  the  upright 
3-inch  pipe  is  the  highest  point  in  the 
whole  system,  and  from  that  elbow 
there  is  a  very  slight  drop  till  the  2- 


inch  pipes  enter  the  house,  one  on 
each  side,  where  they  drop  4  or  5  ft. 
In  the  elbow  is  drilled  in  a  "'4-inch 
pipe  which  runs  up  20  feet  or  a  few 
inches  above  a  large  tank  which  sup- 
plies the  houses  with  water.  The  top 
of  the  pipe  is  bent  over  merely  so  that 
any  drip  from  it  would  drop  in  the 
tank.  From  the  bottom  of  this  150- 
barrel  tank  a  1 1-2-inch  pipe  leads 
down  and  enters  the  return  pipe  close 
to  the  boiler.  Now,  of  course,  the 
water  in  the  %-inch  pipe,  which  we 
will  call  the  air  pipe,  is  always  on  a 
level  with  the  water  in  the  large  tank, 
and  I  think  I  have  made  out  that  I 
have  about  7  Ibs.  pressure  from  that 
cause. 

Remember  it  is  height  of  water  that 
makes  pressure,  not  volume.  There 
would  be  no  more  pressure  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  funnel  ten  feet  high  that  was 
three  feet  wide  at  the  top  and  one 
inch  at  the  bottom  than  there  would 
be  at  the  bottom  of  an  upright  1-inch 
pipe  of  the  same  length  as  the  spread- 
ing funnel.  How  much  importance  to 
attach  to  this  little  pressure  I  don't 
know,  but  I  am  safe  in  allowing  none. 

The  2-inch  pipe  passes  through  the 
shed  wall  and  runs  along  the  wall  of 
the  house  about  eight  inches  below  the 
glass.  The  houses  have  a  gradual  but 
true  down  grade  of  two  inches  in  their 
length  and  the  flow  pipe  runs  parallel 
with  the  plate.  At  the  further  end  the 
pipe  goes  into  a  2-inch  manifold  with 
five  1 1-4-inch  openings  from  which 
drops  a  1  1-4-inch  pipe  with  elbows 
which  start  the  five  1 1-4-inch  returns 
on  their  journey  back.  And  they  have 
a  drop  back  to  the  shed  of  two  inches, 
going  into  a  2-inch  manifold  again  and 
joining  the  return  pipe  from  the  other 
side  of  the  house  go  through  the  wall 
about  even,  or  just  below,  level  of  the 
walks,  and  then  drop  perpendicularly 
to  bottom  of  boiler.  So  you  can  call 
this  the  down  hill  plan  if  you  like,  for 
after  leaving  the  first  3-inch  elbow  at 
the  highest  point  it  is  one  continuous 
drop,  although  for  125  feet  the  drop  is 
not  perceptible. 

Why  this  is  better  than  having  a 
rise  in  the  pipes  to  the  further  end 
is  because  you  would  have  to  put 
cocks  at  the  highest  point  to  let  out 
air,  or  open  stand  pipes,  or  a  small 
pipe  tapped  in  and  running  up  higher 
than  the  tank  which  supplied  the 
heater.  In  the  way  I  have  described 
there  are  no  air  valves  to  watch,  no 
feeding  cistern  to  fill,  no  thumping  or 
cracking  of  pipes.  It  works  smoothly 
and  perfectly  and  as  long  as  you  have 
water  in  the  tank  your  pipes  are  full. 
The  big  tank  is  no  advantage  and  a 
barrel  holding  a  few  gallons,  raised 
above  the  highest  point  in  your  sys- 


EXPERT  ADVICE 

On  All  Matters  Pertaining  to 

GREENHOUSE  HEATING. 
HENRY  W.  GIBBONS, 

Steam  and  Hot  Water  Keating'  Engineer, 
136  Liberty  St..  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 

CATALOGUES,  FOUR  CENTS. 


THE 


SCOLLAY 

HOT  WATER 

AND 
STEAM  BOILER 


...  FOR.... 


Greenhouses,  Conservatories,  Dwellings,  Etc, 


INVINCIBLE. 


HEATING 

PJPES, 

FITTINGS, 
VALVES, 

TANKS,  ETC. 

Plans  and 
Estimates  Given. 


Send   Stamp  for  Catalogue. 


41   SIZES 


AND 


5  STYLES 


OF 


BOILERS. 


John  A,  Scollay, 

Myrtle  Avenue BROOKLYN,  N,  Y, 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


131 


tern,  would  be  just  as  well  if  you  kept 
it  full. 

This  plan  can  be  extended  to  any 
dimensions,  providing  you  do  not  vio- 
late any  of  the  principles.  Always  re- 
member that  hot  water  when  circulat- 
ing will  never  go  down  hill  if  there 
is  any  chance  for  it  to  go  up.  So  let 
all  tees  and  manifolds  be  laid  hori- 
zontally, so  that  where  the  water  has 
to  be  spread  out  into  several  pipes 
there  is  as  much  inclination  for  it  to 
flow  into  one  as  another. 

Like  the  main  supply  pipes  in  steam 
heating  if  you  heat  many  pipes  from 
one  or  two  outlets  only,  you  must 
start  off  with  a  6  or  8-inch  pipe  and 
reduce  by  degrees  as  the  main  pipe 
has  less  water  to  supply.  The  2-inch 
flows  supply  the  five  1 1-4-inch  quot- 
ed in  excellent  shape,  but  for  a  rose 
house  thjrt  would  take  at  least  eight 
1 1-4-inch  on  each  side,  a  3-inch  flow 
would  be  small  enough. 

Where  it  is  not  convenient  to  carry 
the  flow  pipe  up  over  the  doors,  but 
enter  the  house  perhaps  level  with  the 
floor  and  then  rise  up  to  the  plate,  or 
even  continue  along  under  the  bench, 
the  flow  pipe  would  have  a  rise  of  an 
inch  or  two  to  the  farther  end  and  a 
corresponding  drop  back  in  the  re- 
turns. At  the  highest  point  farthest 
from  the  boiler  tap  in  a  1-2  or  %-inch 
pipe  and  let  it  run  up  to  the  roof  any- 
where out  of  the  way.  This  is  much 
better  than  pet  cocks,  which  are  so 
easily  forgotten,  and  the  automatic  air 
valves  get  out  of  order.  The  feeding 
cistern  to  supply  the  boiler  can  be  in 
the  shed  and  should  of  course  be  a  lit- 
tle lower  than  the  top  of  the  small 
pipe,  which  is  called  the  air  pipe,  at 
the  farther  end.  Now,  if  the  boiler  is 
low  enough  this  system  will  work  ad- 
mirably and  would  be  perhaps  more 
suited  for  a  private  greenhouse  or 
show  house  than  the  first  system  de- 
scribed. 

I  have  never  had  much  experience 
with  water  under  pressure,  unless  the 
pressure  of  our  city  mains  constitutes 
that  system.  Our  city  water  has  a 
pressure  of  about  35  Ibs.  to  the  square 
inch,  and  my  experience  with  it  is  a 
very  cheap  heating  system  for  a  store 
or  office.  Wishing  to  heat  a  flower 
store  in  this  city,  which  is  some  19  ft. 
by  80,  I  put  a  small  heater  in  the  cel- 
lar. It  is  simply  .three  lengths  of  3- 
inch  pipe,  each  about  three  feet  long, 
and  run  into  a  manifold  at  both  ends. 
The  coil  is  resting  on  two  4-inch  brick 
walls  about  two  feet  from  the  floor 
and  is  bricked  over  top,  sides  and  ends. 
One  end  of  this  coil  is  raised  about 
three  inches  and  from  it  rising  to  the 
ceiling  is  the  1 1-4-inch  flow,  which 
leads  off,  and  by  the  help  of  some  tees 
connects  with  three  radiators  on  floor 
of  store,  and  from  the  other  end  of  the 
radiators  the  returns  drop  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  coil.  There  are  two  natural 
gas  burners  under  this  very  simple 
heater,  which  in  the  coldest  weather 
has  never  been  turned  on  more  than 
one-third  its  force. 

A  1-inch  pipe  from  the  city  water  is 
connected  with  the  lowest  part  of  the 
coil  and  the  valve  is  never  closed,  so 


there  is  always  a  pressure  of  35  Ibs. 
on  the  pipe  and  radiators.  The  high- 
est part  of  the  system  is  the  top  of  the 
radiators,  and  in  them  is  a  pet  cock 
which  should  be  opened  every  day  to 
let  out  air,  but  often  is  not  for  weeks, 
and  in  a  radiator  it  is  not  of  so  much 
consequence. 

There  is  nothing  more  about  it,  only 
the  radiators  can  be  made  red  hot;  a 
great  success.  If  a  strong  fire  should 
expand  the  water  in  the  heater  it  has 
to  find  room  by  driving  the  water 
back  into  the  mains.  The  whole  thing 
cost  less  than  $50,  and  $5  worth  of 
gas  was  consumed  in  the  coldest 
month.  Now  this  system  could  be  used 
with  great  success  wherever  you  have 
a  boiler  that  would  stand  the  pressure. 
You  could  use  it  on  either  the  uphill 
or  downhill  systems,  but  you  could  not 
have  any  open  air  vents,  and  unless 
you  trusted  to  the  automatic  air  valves 
you  would  have  to  daily  open  the  pet 
cocks  at  the  highest  point. 

I  have  seen  pipes  arranged  in  many 
ways,  including  the  old  4-inch  pipe 
system,  put  up  by  the  experts  of  New 
York,  and  well  they  do  their  work,  but 
of  the  various  systems  the  one  first  de- 
scribed is  the  most  satisfactory  in  ev- 
ery way. 

Where  a  considerable  range  is  heat- 
ed with  one  boiler,  although  some  of 
the  cast  iron  boilers  are  excellent 
there  is  nothing  better  than  a  tubular 
boiler,  such  as  you  would  use  for  mak- 
ing steam,  only  that  you  do  not  want 
the  large  space  left  that  is  occupied 
with  steam.  You  want  it  all  tubes  to 
the  top  or  it  would  hold  too  much 
water. 

I  have  said  very  little  about  ar- 
rangement of  the  pipes.  Where  the 
benches  are  away  from  the  walls  there 
is  no  place  so  good  for  the  pipes  as 
to  be  hung  on  the  wall.  The  heat 
strikes  the  glass  quickly  just  where  it 
is  needed.  There  is  no  strong  heat 
near  the  plants,  and  there  is  a  free 
radiation  not  hindered  by  benches. 
Sometimes  this  is  not  possible,  then 
the  pipes  can  be  laid  under  the  bench- 
es, but  it  will  much  simplify  matters  if 
you  can  always  let  the  flow  be  on  the 
wall  near  the  glass. 

I  think  overhead  heating,  so  called, 
unless  to  a  very  limited  extent,  a  great 
mistake.  I  have  tried  it  to  my  loss 
and  pulled  it  down.  In  the  most  se- 
vere weather  you  may  get  the  benefit 
of  the  pipes  over  head,  but  in  ordi- 
nary winter  weather  much  of  your 
hsat  is  thrown  away,  and  why  have 
any  there?  Heat  rises  quickly  enough, 
and  if  your  pipes  are  hot  the  heat  will 
soon  reach  all  parts  of  the  house,  es- 
pecially the  top. 

HEDERA  (IVY). 

Till  the  introduction  of  the  galax 
leaves  the  ivy  was  of  much  importance 
to  us  and  a  large  quantity  is  still 
used  and  possibly  always  will  be.  H. 
Helix  is  the  common  ivy  and  it  has 
innumerable  varieties  and  forms. 
Some  of  the  variegated  varieties  make 
most  beautiful  pot  plants,  and  if  they 
could  be  produced  cheaply  enough 


would  make  the  best  of  basket  and 
vase  plants. 

The  common  ivy  is  not  a  success 
here  out  of  doors.  They  will  do  fairly 
well  on  a  north  wall  for  some  years 
and  then  we  get  a  winter  that  kills. 
In  Europe,  dead  trees,  and  live  ones, 
too,  and  on  ruined  towers  and  old 
buildings  you  see  the  ivy  climbing 
everywhere.  "Creeping  where  no  life 
is  seen,  a  rare  old  plant  is  the  ivy 
green."  And  Gray  says:  "Save  that 
from  yonder  ivy  mantled  tower,  tihe 
moping  owl  does  to  the  moon  com- 
plain." So  the  ivy  must  'have  crept  its 
way  to  the  top  of  the  lofty  tower,  for 
it  mantled  it. 

The  ivy  roots  easily  during  spring, 
and  if  planted  out  early  in  good  soil 
will  make  fine  plants  by  following  Oc- 
tober, when  they  should  be  lifted  and 
potted  in  4-inch  pots.  One  advantage 
of  the  ivy  is  they  will  winter  under 
a  bench  in  a  cool  house  about  as  well 
as  on  the  bench.  We  use  them  largely 
in  vases  and  veranda  boxes  and  they 
suffer  neither  from  heat,  drought  nor 
wind. 

To  produce  leaves  for  designs  I  have 
not  found  them  a  great  success  be- 
neath a  bench.  Although  I  planted  a 
lot  beneath  a  carnation  bench  in  good 
soil,  I  prefer  a  wall  where  they  will 
get  the  daylight,  and  such  is  generally 
to  be  found,  somewhere  on  the  place. 

HEDGE  PLANTS. 

If  you  supply  shrubs  you  will  be  sure 
to  be  asked  to  plant  hedges.  Some  of 
our  American  cities  have  distinctly 
beautiful  residence  streets  and  the  un- 
common feature  always  noticeable  to 
Rudyard  Kipling  and  less  illustrious 
"Outlanders"  is  the  absence  of  fences 
or  hedges.  There  is  nothing  but  the 
well  kept  lawn,  the  group  of  shrubs 
and  trees,  or  perhaps  a  flower  bed,  be- 
tween the  sidewalk  and  the  residence. 
There  is  no  finer  specimen  of  this 
beautiful  style  of  street  in  America 
than  our  own  Delaware  avenue,  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y.  We  would  never  be  guilty 
of  advocating  any  other  style,  but 
whether  we  would  or  not  there  is  a  fast 
growing  tendency  to  put  up  iron 
fences,  or  plant  hedges,  and  when  they 
are  asked  for  we  must  be  ready. 

We  will  say  in  defense  of  a  hedge 
that  where  an  iron  fence  is  used  we 
think  a  well  kept  hedge  behind  it  is 
an  improvement.  Or  where  there  is  a 
retaining  wall  a  small  hedge  on  the 
bank  is  a  finish  to  it.  Or  where  the 
lot  finishes  on  the  street  with  a  ter- 
race we  think  a  hedge  is  in  place.  And 
a  well  kept  hedge  can  hardly  be  out  of 
place  anywhere  near  the  street.  But 
it  is  all  in  the  quality  of  the  hedge. 
We  trust  for  the  credit  of  our  city  and 
its  pride,  the  residence  streets,  that 
stone  walls  or  Norway  spruce  hedges 
will  never  be  built  to  prevent  the 
passer-by  from  admiring  the  trees  and 
well  kept  lawns  and  flower  gardens 
of  our  wealthy  citizens.  A  good  and 
happy  life  on  the  avenue  is  not  fos- 
tered by  admiring  your  own  lot  alone. 
You  see  in  a  month  more  of  your 
neighbor's  than  you  do  of  your  own, 


J32 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


and  a  resident  keeps  his  grounds  neat 
and  trim  and  beautiful  because  oth- 
ers shall  admire  them,  the  knowledge 
of  which  gratifies  the  owner.  It  re- 
solves itself,  like  many  other  good 
deeds,  into  a  species  of  selfishness;  by 
doing  good  to  others  you  have  tickled 
and  pleased  your  own  self. 

But  let  us  get  back  to  the  hedge. 
There  are  mighty  few  hedges  seen  in 
our  cities  that  are  properly  kept,  eith- 
er of  the  evergreen  or  deciduous  kind. 
The  best  specimens  of  hedges  I  have 
seen  in  this  country  were  at  Newport, 
mostly  privet.  And  the  finest  ever- 
green hedges  I  have  seen  are  in  To- 
ronto, of  Norway  spruce.  But  the 
perfection  of  a  hedge  in  every  feature 
was  a  hemlock  hedge  (Abies  canaden- 
sis)  in  the  nurseries  of  George  Leslie 
&  Son.  Hemlock  is  without  doubt  the 
finest  and  most  perfect  in  form  of  all 
evergreen  hedges.  There  are  some 
terrible  specimens  of  privet  hedges 
scattered  over  our  city  and  others.  Be- 
fore they  are  three  feet  high  a  west- 
ern hog  could  run  through  them  with- 
out disturbing  many  of  their  twigs. 
When  like  this  they  are  simply  an 
abomination.  The  fault  is  mostly  with 
the  proprietor,  who  insists  on  imme- 
diate effect  and  says  "no,  no,  don't  cut 
it  down;  I  want  some  show  for  my 
money;  leave  it  alone,  we  will  trust 
to  its  filling  out."  Which  it  never 
does.  And  a  privet  hedge  is  allowed 
to  run  up  two  feet  the  first  season  and 
then  be  just  topped  an  inch  or  so. 

Another  reason  for  the  poor  hedges 
you  see  is  that  they  are  seldom 
trimmed  properly.  Let  it  be  an  ever- 
green or  a  deciduous  hedge  it  should 
not  be  cut  up  square,  and  sometimes 
you  see  them  worse  than  that,  even 
broader  at  the  top  than  the  bottom. 
If  they  run  up  square  how  are  the 
lower  branches  going  to  get  equal 
light  or  rains?  They  soon  begin  to 
lose  their  lower  branches  and  then 
they  are  ruined.  I  would  call  a  fine 
privet  hedge  one  that  was  three  feet 
at  the  base  with  the  sides  sloping  in 
till  the  rounded  top  was  not  more 
than  18  inches  through,  and  the  hedge 
not  over  4  1-2  or  5  feet  high.  The 
same  with  the  evergreen  hedges,  when 
broad  at  the  base  and  narrowing  to 
the  top  they  can  be  kept  for  years  in 
perfect  health  and  green  to  the  bot- 
tom. Midsummer  is  the  best  time  to 
prune  evergreen  hedges  and  they  look 
much  better  cut  with  a  knife  than  the 
shears.  Hedges  of  deciduous  shrubs 
like  privet  are  best  and  quickest 
sheared,  which  can  be  done  in  early 
spring  before  growth  and  again  in 
midsummer.  , 

In  planting  evergreen  hedges  you 
must  begin  with  small,  compact,  per- 
fect trees;  if  you  don't  start  right  you 
never  will  have  a  hedge.  The  best 
evergreen  for  the  purpose  is  first  of 
all  the  hemlock  spruce;  it  has  a  grace 
and  droop  to  it  that  no  other  ever- 
green hedge  has.  Next  the  Norway 
spruce,  and  then  the  American  and 
Chinese  arbor-vitae. 

The  deciduous  hedges  will  always  be 
more  planted  in  city  lots,  and  for  this 
purpose  are  certainly  to  be  preferred. 


The  finest  for  most  purposes  is  the 
Californian  and  English  privet  (Ligus- 
trum  ovalifolium  and  L.  vulgaris).  The 
Californian  was  considerably  killed 
this  past  winter.  If  a  fine,  dense  hedge 
is  wanted,  a  double  row  of  the  privet 
should  be  always  planted,  the  rows 
one  foot  apart  and  the  plants  nine  or 
ten  inches  in  the  row.  For  several 
seasons  they  should  be  cut  back  to 
within  six  inches  of  the  previous  sea- 
son's growth,  then  you  will  have  a 
solid  hedge  that  a  cat  would  have 
difficulty  in  squeezing  through. 

Berberis  Thunbergii  makes  a  mag- 
nificent hedge.  Its  habit  is  spreading 
and  the  worst  treatment  will  not  pre- 
vent it  becoming  dense  and  bushy.  It 
can  be  either  trimmed  in  formal  shape 
or  left  to  grow  naturally,  when  it  is 
one  of  the  handsomest  of  shrubs.  Its 
small  leaves  are  always  handsome,  col- 
oring to  beautiful  tints  in  ths  autumn, 
and  covered  with  its  fruit.  It  is  a  most 
hardy,  easily  transplanted  shrub. 

There  is  a  hedge  of  Pyrus  (Cydonia) 
japonica  here  and  there  throughout 
the  country.  One  I  have  in  mind  is 
on  a  retaining  wall  near  the  home  of 
the  late  Mr.  Parkman,  the  Indian  his- 
torian, in  the  suburbs  of  Boston.  It 
was  in  flower  when  I  was  escorted  that 
way,  and  it  was  gorgeous.  It  is  an 
admirable  hedge  shrub,  catn  be  cut 
after  blooming  to  any  dimensions,  and 
is  simply  gorgeous  in  the  early  spring, 
and  very  hardy. 

Other  trees  and  shrubs  can  be  used 
for  the  purpose.  I  have  only  made  a 
selection  and  my  chief  object  was  to 
tell  you  that  a  hedge  cannot  be  made 
in  one  year,  and  will  not  do  unless  all 
parts  of  the  hedge  get  a  share  of  sun 
and  rain. 

HELIOTROPE. 

This  old  favorite  has  possibly  been 
grown  as  long  as  there  has  been  any 
greenhouse  to  protect  it  in  winter. 
All  we  grow  are  varieties  of  H.  peru- 
vianum.  It  always  was  a  favorite  for 
our  summer  flower  garden,  either  in 
beds  or  in  the  mixed  border.  As  a  cut 
flower  it  has  its  delicious  fragrance  to 
commend  it,  but  it  wilts  rather  quickly 
when  cut. 

You  can  neither  lift  old  plants  with 
success  nor  root  the  cuttings  that  y.ou 
take  from  the  plants  grown  outside, 
so  you  should  always  grow  a  few 
plants  over  summer  in  pots,  and  move 
them  to  the  greenhouse  before  frost, 
when  if  the  shoots  are  shortened  back 
you  will  get  young,  tender  cuttings 
that  root  quickly  where  there  is  some 
bottom  heat.  No  cuttings  root  more 
quickly  or  surely  than  heliotrope  in 
January,  February  and  March,  and 
your  stock  can  be  then  increased  to 
any  extent.  *  Young  plants  soon  spoil 
if  stunted  in"  small  pots,  and  to  keep 
them  thrifty  they  must  be  shifted  on 
and  occasionally  pinched.  For  this 
reason  you  don't  want  a  large  stock 
too  early  in  the  winter.  This  is  a 
plant  that  does  finely  in  a  mild  hot- 
bed after  middle  of  April.  Thousands 
are  sold  in  our  markets  every  spring. 

You  often  see  a  plant  of  heliotrope 


planted  out  at  the  end  of  a  green- 
house covering  a  large  space.  Such  a 
one  I  have.  It  gets  cut  back  to  the 
main  shoots  every  September,  and  dur- 
ing winter  yields  bushels  of  flowers, 
which  are  occasionally  asked  for.  It 
also  provides  me  with  an  abundance 
of  cuttings  at  any  time  during  winter 
that  I  may  need  them. 

Heliotropes  are  often  grown  as 
standards  and  are  used  as  conserva- 
tory plants  or  plunged  out  in  the 
flower  garden.  They  certainly  make  a 
fine  appearance.  Say  a  bed  of  'helio- 
trope of  the  ordinary  sized  plants,  into 
which  plunge  a  dozen  of  the  3-foot 
standards;  or  any  other  dwarf  flower- 
ing plant  could  be  the  groundwork. 
They  are  easily  grown. 

Choose  a  strong,  healthy  young 
plant,  and  without  any  pinching  en- 
courage it  to  run  up  3  feet,  and  then 
stop  it,  keeping  all  lateral  growths 
pinched  off  except  a  few  near  the  top. 
You  can  let  these  plants  rest  in  a  cool 
house  with  little  water  during  winter 
and  start  growing  again  in  March. 
The  head  can  be  left  to  grow  naturally 
as  you  would  a  standard  rose,  but  they 
look  much  better  tied  to  a'wire  frame 
as  we  do  standard  chrysanthemums.  I 
can't  say  that  the  standard  heliotrope 
is  a  good  investment  for  the  florist, 
but  when  time  and  space  allows  they 
are  a  great  ornament  to  our  flower 
gardens. 

Heliotrope  is  popularly  supposed  to 
be  easily  injured  by  tobacco  smoke.  If 
a  strong  dose  is  first  given  it-does  in- 
jure it,  but  after  a  few  fumigations  it 
does  not  notice  it  more  than  a  gera- 
nium. Why  should  it  not  get  inured  to 
it?  I  have  noticed  frequently  that  it 
does,  although  it  does  not  need  any 
smoke. 

A  rust  is  its  worst  enemy,  which 
will  not  attack  it  unless  it  gets  root 
bound  and  stunted.  The  heliotrope 
grows  finely  in  a  temperature  of  50 
degrees,  but  will  not  endure  the  slight- 
est frost.  There  are  constantly  new 
varieties  being  sent  out,  a  few  good 
ones  are: 

LE  CID:  Semi-dwarf,  robust,  large 
panicles,  mauve,  with  clear  white  eye. 

LE  POITEVINE:  Great  size,  mauve, 
violet  and  azure;  very  free  and  con- 
tinuous in  bloom. 

THE  GIANT:  Enormous  panicle  of 
bloom,  color  a  rosy  violet,  white  eye. 

CAMELEON:  Bright  blue,  large 
panicles  and  florets. 

ALBERT  DELAUX:  Pretty  varie- 
gated foliage,  purple  flowers. 

WHITE  LADY:  The  best  of  the 
white  or  light  varieties. 

HIBISCUS. 

The  species  we  see  in  the  green- 
houses is  H.  rosa-sinensis  and  its  vari- 
eties. They  are  hardly  a  florist's 
plant,  yet  their  bright,  shining  leaves 
and  showy,  brilliant  flowers  make 
them  desirable  for  the  private  conserv- 
atory. 

They  thrive  in  any  good,  coarse 
loam,  with  some  well  rotted  manur? 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J33 


added.  They  soon  make  large  plants 
and  need  a  liberal  sized  pot,  and  plen- 
ty of  water  and  syringing  when  grow- 
ing. Their  brilliant  flowers  come  on 
the  young  growths.  In  winter  they 
will  do  in  a  temperature  of  50  de- 
grees, and  keep  on  the  dry  side.  When 
starting  them  into  more  growth  in 
April,  shorten  back  the  shoots;  the 
young  growths  will  be  all  the  stronger. 
The  flowers  are  of  various  colors  and 
are  both  single  and  double. 

The  young  growths  root  readily  in 
April  in  some  warm  sand,  but  should 
not  be  exposed  to  the  sun  or  too  much 
air. 

HOLLYHOCK. 

This  stately  plant  is  seen  in  the 
large  grounds  of  the  millionaire  and 
in  the  small  piece  of  garden,  that  the 
farmer  or  his  wife  devotes  to  "posies." 
It  is  handsome  anywhere,  and  it  is 
particularly  suitable  for  a  border 
whose  background  is  a  hedge  or  belt 
of  trees.  There  appears  to  be  an  in- 
creased call  for  them  of  late.  Some 
years  ago  the  hollyhock  disease  dis- 
couraged many  would-be  growers  of 
this  old  favorite,  but  little  is  now 
heard  of  the  disease,  and  we  have  seen 
no  trouble  from  it  in  several  years. 

Hollyhocks  are  of  very  easy  culture 
and  few  plants  will  pay  for  the  labor 
with  an  equal  amount  of  flowers  and 
fine  effect.  If  they  required  the  same 
care  and  labor  that  a  dahlia  does, 
there  would  be  less  excuse  for  not 
growing  them,  but  they  do  not.  When 
once  planted  out,  they  will  take  care 
of  themselves,  only  requiring  one  stout 
stake  to  support  their  main  stem  and 
tying  as  they  grow. 

The  best  strain  if  allowed  to  remain 
without  transplanting  for  four  or  five 
years  will  deteriorate  in  quality  and 
revert  back  to  the  single-flowered 
form.  Little  regard  is  now  paid  to 
named  varieties,  because  the  best 
strains  give  you  all  the  desirable  col- 
ors and  the  finest  flowers;  in  fact, 
plants  less  than  one  year  old  give  the 
finest  flowers.  Plants  that  have  flow- 
ered and  are  carried  over  winter  are 
hardy  in  our  ordinary  winters,  but 
should  be  protected  by  some  litter 
placed  around  the  plant  and  a  few 
evergreen  boughs  over  them. 

Where  the  winters  are  not  so  severe 
seed  is  sown  in  May  or  June  out  of 
doors  and  the  young  plants  trans- 
planted into  beds,  where  they  remain 
all  winter  in  the  open  ground,  and 
are  planted  out  and  sold  the  following 
spring.  This  is  all  right  for  the  man 
with  a  catalogue  trade,  but  is  not  the 
way  to  produce  the  finest  plants  and 
flowers. 

Sow  in  flats  or  in  the  cold-frame  in 
early  August.  If  you  have  no  other 
accommodation,  you  can  transplant 
four  or  five  inches  apart  in  the  frames, 
and  in  the  three  or  four  months  of 
severest  winter  weather  protect  with 
glass,  and  transplant  to  their  perma- 
nent position  as  soon  as  the  ground  is 
dry  in  the  spring.  Still  better,  trans- 
plant from  the  seed  beds  into  flats  or 


2-inch  pots  and  in  October  shift  into 
4-inch  pots,  keeping  them  plunged  in 
the  cold-frame  till  very  cold  weather, 
and  then  winter  them  in  a  very  cool 
house.  A  violet  temperature,  or  less, 
will  do.  Don't  defer  planting  till  you 
put  out  your  tropical  bedding  plants, 
but  get  them  into  the  border  as  soon 
as  you  can  work  the  ground.  The 
latter  method  is  the  one  I  have  seen 
followed  with  the  very  grandest  re- 
sults. 

Hollyhocks  like  a  heavy  soil,  dug 
deeply  and  with  plenty  of  animal  ma- 
nure worked  in.  If  the  spring  is  dry, 
they  should  receive  a  soaking  twice  a 
week.  As  fine  hollyhocks  as  I  have 
ever  seen  were  planted  in  a  stiff  clay, 
into  which  was  dug  a  lot  of  cow  ma- 
nure. They  want  a  good  stout  stake 
to  keep  the  wind  from  blowing  them 
over,  and  sometimes  when  the  side 
shoots  are  loaded  with  flowers  they 
will  want  supporting  to  the  main 
stem. 

Chater's  strain  was  for  years  the 
best  obtainable,  and  is,  I  think,  still 
offered  by  some  of  the  leading  seeds- 
men. 

When  the  plants  are  small,  as  a  pre- 
ventive of  fungous  diseases  they  can 
be  dipped  into  a  pail  of  the  ammonia- 
cal  solution. 

The  best  strains  now  embrace  colors 
from  the  darkest  maroon  (almost 
black)  through  beautiful  shades  of  red 
and  pink,  yellow  and  pale  straw,  to 
pure  white.  Three  feet  apart  is  close 
enough  to  plant  them,  and  if  strong 
plants,  more  room  is  better. 

HOTBEDS. 

These  primitive  greenhouses  may 
never  be  seen  at  many  establishments, 
and  where  only  cut  flowers  are  grown 
there  is  no  occasion  for  them,  but  to 
the  florist  who  grows  an  assortment  of 
bedding  plants  they  are  of  the  greatest 
assistance.  As  is  well  known  there  is 
a  number  of  our  soft-wooded  plants 
that  grow  much  faster  and  thriftier  in 
a  hotbed  than  in  the  best  greenhouse 
that  you  can  possibly  give  them. 

The  vegetable  grower  starts  prepara- 
tions for  his  hotbeds  in  February,  but 
the  florist  does  not  need  to,  and  in  our 
latitude  the  hotbed  is  of  most  use  from 
early  April  on  to  end  of  May,  and  oc- 
casionally during  summer,  where 
plants  like  cyclamen  want  a  little  bot- 
tom heat. 

The  frames  are  usually  18  inches  at 
back  and  12  inches  in  front,  and  for 
convenience  made  to  fit  three  or  four 
sash  of  6  feet  by  3  feet  6  inches  each. 
When  botbeds  are  used  on  a  large  scale 
and  where  drainage  is  good  the  earth 
is  excavated  to  a  depth  of  18  inches  to 
2  feet,  and  either  boarded  or  bricked 
up  to  a  foot  above  the  surface.  There 
is  an  advantage  in  this  because  the 
late  frost  does  not  cool  the  fermenting 
material.  Wherever  you  have  them 
let  them  be  all  together,  for  the  larger 
the  mass  of  manure  the  slower  it  will 
cool. 

The  first  requisite  is  some  good, 
fresh  straw  manure,  and  sometimes 
that  alone  is  used.  If  you  have  some 


dry  leaves  of  the  previous  fall  you  can 
mix  in  a  third  of  those,  and  if  you  are 
on  good  terms  with  the  local  brewer 
the  spent  hops  of  the  brewery  is  a 
splendid  material  for  the  purpose. 
Hops  heat  violently,  and  should  not  be 
used  alone,  or  the  heat  will  be  too  vio- 
lent for  a  time,  and  will  too  quickly 
subside.  I  would  call  one-half  stable 
manure,  one-fourth  leaves  and  one- 
fourth  fresh  hops  a  fine  mixture. 

You  can  not  get  all  your  material  in 
one  day,  but  when  you  Tiave  collected 
enough  to  begin  operations  the  whole 
mass,  whatever  it  is,  should  be  turned 
over  once  into  a  big  pile  and  thor- 
oughly shaken  out,  mixing  the  long 
with  the  short.  When  the  pile  begins 
to  show  signs  of  heating,  then  form 
your  hotbeds.  Lay  out  a  space  18 
inches  larger  and  broader  than  the 
frame  or  frames,  and  allow  for  an  18- 
inch  path  between  the  frames,  but 
path  and  all  to  be  built  up  with  the 
manure. 

Build  the  sides  up  square  and  when 
making  the  beds  one  man  should 
throw  on  the  manure  and  another  be 
shaking  and  spreading  it  evenly  and 
continually  tramping  on  it,  so  that— > 
when  it  sinks,  which  it  will  do  as  it 
ferments,  it  will  sink  evenly.  If  the 
material  is  dry,  have  the  hose  near  at 
hand  and  every  layer  of  three  or  four 
inches  give  the  surface  a  good  sprink- 
ling. It  will  prevent  the  heat  being  so 
violent,  but  will  make  it  last  longer. 

When  the  bed  or  material  has 
reached  a  height  of  2  feet  put  on  your 
frames  and  see  that  they  are  straight 
and  square  or  the  sash  won't  fitf  and 
above  all  see  that  the  frames  are  not 
"winding."  If  you  sight  across  the 
top  edges  back  and  front  and  they  line 
with  each  other,  then  they  are  not 
winding.  ^Continue  to  build  up  with 
the  material  till  you  are  nearly  to  the 
top  of  the  frame.  Then  throw  in  four 
or  five  inches  of  the  plunging  mate- 
rial. This  could  be  sawdust,  tan  bark, 
or  even  sifted  ashes,  but  for  the  sake 
of  the  hotbed  material  for  after  use, 
which  is  invaluable  to  the  plant  man, 
we  prefer  to  put  on  four  or  five  inches 
of  some  light  soil  that  we  have  used 
for  some  other  crop. 

Don't  plunge  any  plants  in  the  soil 
for  five  or  six  days,  or  till  the  most 
violent  heat  has  passed,  and  keep  a  lit- 
tle ventilation  on  to  allow  the  vapor  to 
escape.  When  the  violent  heat  has  sub- 
sided get  in  your  plants  and  the 
growth  they  will  make  will  be  remark- 
able. And  so  will  the  growth  of  weeds 
from  the  soil.  But  weeding  must  be 
attended  to  as  all  other  duties. 

Only  "the  man  who  never  forgets" 
should  have  the  care  of  the  hotbeds.  A 
cold  night  is  often  followed  by  a 
bright,  sunny  day,  and  the  sun  seems 
to  accelerate  the  heat  of  the  bed,  and 
if  they  are  neglected  till,  say  11  a.  m., 
you  run  a  good  chance  of  having  your 
whole  crop  burnt  up,  which  has  hap- 
pened occasionally  to  most  of  us.  A 
little  ventilation  at  first,  and  a  little 
more  in  an  hour,  is  the  way  to  care  for 
a  hotbed.  And  close  down  early  in 
the  afternoon.  With  the  uniform 


J34 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


moisture  and  heat  at  the  roots  and 
the  ammonia  charged  atmosphere,  the 
growth  of  many  plants  is  prodigious. 

When  hotbeds  are  started  early,  say 
1st  of  April,  you  should  always  cover 
them  nightly  with  mats  or  shutters, 
the  former  much  preferred  both  for 
warmth  and  convenience.  You  must 
not  trust  to  the  bare  glass  on,  nights 
of  sharp  frost.  The  surface  of  the  soil 
gets  quickly  cool  and  then  Jack  Frost 
touches  the  plants,  whose  tops  are 
very  near  the  glass. 

The  hotbeds  are  a  great  relief  to  us 
in  our  crowded  state  in  April  and  May. 
And  more  than  that  when  the  beds  are 
emptied  the  material  is  tossed  up  on  a 
pile  and  chopped  down  once  or  twice 
during  fall,  and  there  you  have  an  ex- 
cellent substitute  for  leaf-mould,  with 
some  ammonia  in  it.  If  not,  its  me- 
chanical condition  is  what  you  want 
for  all  of  your  soft- wooded,  and  many 
of  the  hard-wooded,  plants. 

HOYA. 

These  hot-house  climbers  are  seldom 
seen  now.  The  days  of  short-stemmed 
flowers  are  gone,  and  hoyas  are  only 
found  in  the  private  collection.  H.  car- 
nosa  was  once  a  very  common  plant  in 
our  greenhouses,  and  we  have  all 
heard  the  dear  old  lady  tell  us  hun- 
dreds of  times  that  her  "wax  plant  did 
not  flower." 

H.  carnosa  and  H.  bella  are  the  two 
best  known.  The  latter  is  a  beautiful 
but  more  delicate  plant.  They  root 
easily  in  the  spring  from  the  tops  of 
the  growths.  If  a  specimen  is  wanted 
they  should  be  trained  on  a  wire 
frame.  They  like  plenty  of  sun  and 
ventilation  in  summer  time,  and  in 
winter  should  be  given  a  rest  by  keep- 
ing rather  dry  and  in  a  house  at  about 
50  degrees. 

Their  waxy  flowers,  in  fine  umbels, 
are  very  pretty,  but  they  are  not  a 
florist's  flower. 

HYACINTH. 
See  Bulbs. 

HYDRANGEA. 

These  are  among  the  most  impor- 
tant of  our  decorative  flowering 
plants.  Large  quantities  are  sold  for 
Easter  church  decorations,  and  later 
on  large  plants  are  in  demand  for  out- 
side decoration.  The  hardy  Hydran- 
gea paniculata  grandiflora  is  one  of 
the  finest  of  our  hardy  shrubs. 

H.  hortensis  and  its  variety  Otaksa 
is  the  common  hydrangea  of  our 
greenhouses.  The  flowers  of  Otaksa 
are  nearly  always  sterile,  and  from 
that  fact  arise  their  fine,  showy  heads 
of  bloom.  The  normal  color  of  Otaksa 
is  a  beautiful  flesh  pink,  but  it  varies 
with  certain  soil,  and  in  some  parts 
they  assume  a  beautiful  blue  color. 
Iron  dust  or  filings  in  the  soil  is  said 
to  produce  this.  If  so,  it  cannot  be 
done  with  one  season's  treatment,  but 
must  be  followed  up  from  the  time  the 
plant  is  first  rooted.  When  Otaksa  is 
well  colored  its  beautiful  shade  of  pink 
can  scarcely  be  improved  by  changing 
to  a  blue. 


All  the  hydrangeas  can  be  readily 
rooted  from  the  young  growths  in 
February  and  March.  Old  plants  that 
are  given  a  little  heat  in  the  winter 
will  give  you  fine  cuttings,  and  they 
should  be  short,  stout  pieces  of  the 
very  latest  growth,  which  root  quickly 
in  the  sand.  For  early  spring  use  the 
cuttings  should  be  propagated  in  Feb- 
ruary, potted  on  till  June  and  have  the 
tops  pinched  out,  when  they  can  go 
into  a  5-inch  pot  and  be  plunged  out- 
side on  a  dry  bottom,  giving  them 
plenty  of  room  between  the  plants.  If 
they  grow  freely  give  them  a  6-inch  in 
August. 

After  the  first  few  mild  frosts,  which 
does  them  no  harm,  take  them  into  a 
light  house.  By  this  time  you  have 
some  chrysanthemum  benches  empty 
and  can  give  the  hydrangeas  a  good 
bench.  Till  the  New  Year  they  do  not 
want  any  forcing,  but  after  that  if  they 
are  wanted  for  Easter  they  must  get 
55  degrees  at  night,  and  increase  it  if 
you  see  they  are  going  to  be  late. 
Plants  that  are  not  wanted  for  Easter 
can  rest  in  a  very  cool  house,  in  fact 
under  a  bench  till  February,  and  bs 
given  enough  water  to  keep  them  from 
shriveling,  after  which  they  can  be 
cleaned  up,  shifted,  if  necessary,  and 
started  growing.  These  will  be  in  good 
flower  about  the  end  of  May,  when 
there  is  a  good  demand  for  them. 

I  failed  to  mention  that  the  earlier 
forced  plants  should  also  be  given  a 
shift  into  a  6  or  7-inch  pot  when  they 
start  to  grow  at  New  Year's.  Otaksa  is 
about  hardy  in  the  milder  parts  of 
Europe,  so  it  does  not  want  anything 
but  a  cool  greenhouse  except  when 
forced. 

Hydrangeas,  especially  the  hortensis 
type,  are  great  feeders,  and  should 
have  a  rather  heavy  but  good,  fresh 
loam  with  a  fourth  of  decayed  manure, 
and  some  bone  flour  added  at  the  last 
shift  will  help  them.  Water  they  want 
in  great  abundance  when  growing  and 
flowering,  and  if  allowed  to  suffer  for 
it  they  soon  show  it,  and  will  show  it 
later  by  yellow  leaves. 

There  is  little  trouble  with  hydran- 
geas from  insects.  You  can  fumigate 
them  should  fly  trouble  them,  and  al- 
though red  spider  will  attack  the 
flowers  it  should  never  be  allowed  as  a 
daily  syringing  should  be  given  them. 

Plants  that  have  not  sold  should 
have  the  flowers  removed  by  cutting 
back  the  stem  to  within  a  few  eyes  of 
the  pot.  Remove  .some  of  the  soil  and 
give  them  a  shift  and  plunge  outside 
for  the  summer.  They  will  make  fine 
plants  for  another  spring.  The  prin- 
cipal object  to  attain  with  any  of  these 
plants  is  a  strong  growth  in  summer, 
and  well  ripened  wood  in  the  fall.  So 
bright  sun,  cool  nights,  and  a  lessen- 
ing of  the  supply  of  water,  are  the 
requisites. 

When  hydrangeas  gat  into  10  and 
12-inch  pots  they  take  up  too  much 
room  unless  you  are  assured  of  a  good 
sale.  They  make  magnificent  plants  in 
tubs  for  the  lawn,  but  those  that  have 
developed  their  flowers  under  glass  are 
not  valuable  for  this  purpose,  as  they 


soon  lose  the  beauty  of  their  flowers. 
The  best  plants  for  this  purpose  that 
1  have  seen  were  wintered  for  several 
years  in  the  basement  of  a  coach 
house.  There  was  no  artificial  heat. 
It  was  not  too  dark,  and  with  an  occa- 
sional watering  the  plants  remained 
dormant  till  it  was  time  to  return 
them  to  the  lawn,  when  they  came 
along  naturally  about  the  same  as  the 
hardy  shrubs,  and  the  flowers  lasted 
the  greater  part  of  the  summer. 

Some  such  place  as  this  should  be 
provided  for  large  plants,  as  the  green- 
house, however  cool,  will  bring  them 
on  too  fast. 

Some  growers  adopt  a  different  plan 
with  the  young  plants.  Instead  of 
growing  them  on  in  pots  they  plant 
them  out  in  good,  deep,  rich  soil,  and 
lift  and  pot  in  September  or  October. 
I  have  often  done  this,  and  for  late 
spring  sales  it  is  a  good  plan,  but  for 
the  Easter  lot  I  prefer  to  grow  them  in 
pots  all  summer. 

The  kinds  forced  include  Thomas 
Hogg,  a  pure  white  variety  of  horten- 
sis. Paniculata  is  also  forced  in  some 
places,  but  we  think  we  have  better 
plants.  There  is  a  finer  variety  with 
purplish  red  stems  and  highly  colored 
pink  flowers,  rather  a  tall  growth  but 
very  handsome.  H.  hortensis  Otaksa 
is  the  finest  variety,  giving  the  largest 
head  of  bloom,  and  forcing  well. 

IMPAT1ENS  SULTANI. 

This  little  perennial  flowering  bal- 
sam is  not  so  much  seen  as  it  was  a 
dozen  years  ago.  Nearly  all  the  year 
it  is  covered  with  bright  scarlet 
flowers  and  is  chiefly  valuable  as  a 
bright  flower  for  the  greenhouse  in 
summer  when  most  of  our  flowering 
plants  are  done.  It  roots  readily  from 
cuttings  in  warm  sand,  or  can  be 
raised  from  seed.  A  rather  rich,  open 
soil  suits  it,  with  plenty  of  water. 
Plants  in  4  and  5-inch  pots  are  most 
useful. 

Being  from  tropical  Africa  it  should 
'not  be  kept  lower  than  55  degrees  in 
the  winter,  but  any  greenhouse  does  it 
well  in  summer,  and  it  does  not  .want 
much  shade. 

When  plants  get  shabby  from  the 
want  of  a  shift  it  is  cheaper  and  better 
to  throw  them  away,  as  young  and 
thrifty  plants  are  so  easily  raised. 

IRESINE  (ACHYRANTHES.) 

These  are  known  almost  entirely 
under  the  name  of  achyranthes,  but 
iresine  is  correct.  They,  with  the  co- 
leus,  are  the  principal  plants  used  to 
furnish  color  to  the  tropical  and  foli- 
age beds. 

Their  culture  is  so  well  known  and 
so  simple  that  little  need  be  said.  They 
thrive  in  any  ordinary  good  soil.  They 
have  an  advantage  over  the  coleus  in 
that  they  are  not  nearly  so  tender  and 
will  grow  during  winter  when  the  co- 
leus would  starve.  Outside,  though  in- 
jured by  the  first  frost,  they  will  not 
drop  their  leaves  when  the  thermome- 
ter gets  down  to  40  degrees,  as  do 
many  coleus. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


135 


We  grow  them  not  only  as  a  bedding 
plant,  but.  for  our  vases  and  veranda 
boxes  they  are  most  useful,  and  do  not 
monopolize  the  whole  space  to  the  sac- 
rifice of  other  plants,  as  do  the  strong- 
er growing  coleus. 

Green  fly  attacks  them  if  smoking  is 
neglected,  and  mealy  bugs  like  them, 
but  that  can  be  thoroughly  cleaned  off 
when  you  start  a  new  batch  of  cut- 
tings. 

Nothing  can  possibly  root  better 
than  iresine  at  all  times  of  the  year. 
We  select  a  few  cuttings  from  outside 
that  are  clean  and  healthy  in  Septem- 
ber, and  from  a  few  dozen  of  each 
kind  a  large  lot  can  be  produced  by 
bedding  time.  A  hotbed  grows  th,9m 
thrifty  and  quickly  and  gives  you  a 
chance  to  harden  them  off.  To  grow 
fast  for  cuttings  they  should  have  a 
temperature  of  60  degrees,  but  will 
tiirive  finely  in  10  degrees  less. 

1.  Herbstii  is  the  useful  sort  we 
know  as  Verschaffeltii;  finely  colored, 
habit  spreading  and  free. 

I.  Herbstii  aurea  reticulata  is  the 
variegated  form. 

I.  Lindenii  is  more  erect;  narrow 
leaves,  deep,  rich  color;  a  fine  bedding 
plant. 

There  is  also  another  variety,  or  I 
believe  a  species  (the  correct  name  I 
cannot  find)  with  smaller,  rounded 
leaf,  of  a  fine  "bottle  green"  color; 
in  contrast  with  a  lighter  fo'.iage 
plant,  this  i.s  the  best  of  all. 

JASMINUM. 

Ol'  the  several  species  of  these  sweet 
scented  shrubs  there  is  only  one  that 
florists  cultivate,  and  that  now  is  most 
often  conspicuous  by  its  absence.  But 
we  all  know  J.  grandiflorum.  A  plant 
that  I  can  remember  as  long  ago  as  I 
can  think  of  any  plant  was  a  large 
bush  of  J.  revolutum,  which  for  the 
larger  part  of  tlfe  summer  was  covered 
with  its  sweet  yellow  blossoms.  But 
that  was  in  the  temperate  climate  of 
the  south  coast  of  England.  Here  it 
is  not  hardy. 

J.  grandiflorum  needs  a  temperature 
of  50  degrees  during  winter.  The 
young  growths  root  readily  in  the 
spring,  and  if  planted  out  after  frost 
is  gone  and  kept  pinched  they  make 
fine  bushy  little  plants  and  can  be 
lifted  and  potted,  and  will  flower  in 
October  and  November.  They  can  not 
be  called  a  showy  plant  and  would  re- 
ceive no  attention  if  it  were  not  for 
their  delicious  fragrance. 

The  jasmine  is  no  more  a  climber 
than  a  heliotrope,  but  if  you  want  the 
flowers  the  best  way  is  to  plant  one 
out  at  the  end  of  a  carnation  house 
and  in  the  spring  prune  it  back,  and 
during  summer  keep  it  pinched  so  that 
the  flowering  is  retarded  to  late  fall, 
when  for  weddings  there  is  often  a 
call  for  it. 

Unfortunately  when  asked  for  jas- 
mine for  a  bride's  bouquet  the  sweet 
flower  is  gone,  and  again  when  the 
flower  is  ready  the  bride  is  not. 

Any  good  loam  will  grow  the  jas- 
minum. 


KALMIA. 

This  is  known  among  us  as  the 
"Mountain  Laurel,"  and  is  the  plant 
that  furnishes  the  fine  glossy  sprays 
that  make  such  admirable  wreathing 
for  our  winter  festivities.  This  is  a 
truly  broad  leaved  evergreen,  but  as  I 
had  occasion  to  remark  under  the  head 
of  "Hardy  Shrubs,"  it  is  in  most  soils 
and  localities  very  disappointing  when 
transported  away  from  its  native 
mountains.  Those  who  have  never 
seen  a  mountain  side  covered  with  the 
pinkish  white  flowers  of  the  kalmia 
have  little  idea  what  a  lovely  shrub  it 
is  on  its  native  Alleghanies.  It  is 
widely  distributed. 

For  an  early  June  wedding  (about 
the  time  it  is  usually  in  full  flower) 
we  have  tried  it  in  wreathing.  Its  ap- 
pearance is  fine,  but  the  waxy  florets 
never  cease  dropping,  which  precludes 
its  use  when  in  flower. 

Neat  little  plants,  well  set  with  buds, 
are  now  imported  from  Europe  suit- 
able for  forcing.  They  can  be  potted 
and  kept  in  cold-frame  till  time  to 
start  them  in  the  houses.  If  wanted  for 
Easter,  give  them  six  weeks  in  a  tem- 
perature of  50  degrees,  and  near 
flowering  time  a  little  more.  Though 
very  beautiful  when  in  full  flower  we 
do  not  attach  much  value  to  them, 
and  nine  customers  out  of  ten  would 
in  preference  buy  an  Indian  azalea. 

KOENIGA  (SWEET  ALYSSUM.) 

The  double  form  of  this  little  plant 
is  quite  important  to  the  florist  whose 
business  includes  flower  gardening, 
and  particularly  for  the  edges  of  ve- 
randa boxes  and  vases.  Sprays  of  its 
small  white  flowers  were  formerly 
much  in  demand  for  funeral  designs, 
and  plants  were  often  grown  on  the 
edges  of  carnation  beds  where  the 
flowers  could  hang  over  the  walks,  and 
I  have  seen  whole  benches  devoted  to 
its  cultivation.  As  a  cut  flower  it  is 
not  now  so  much  in  favor,  but  as  a 
flower  garden  plant  it  is  most  useful. 

We  lift  a  few  old  plants  in  Septem- 
ber, cutting  them  back,  and  from  the 
young  tender  growths  get  lots  of  cut- 
tings, or  young,  suitable  growths  from 
outside  will  give  you  stock.  During 
winter  yon  can  multiply  it  by  cuttings 
ad  libitum. 

Here  is  another  plant  that  we  find 
the  mild  hotbed  suits  finely.  You 
should  have  a  large  lot  in  2-inch  pots 
early  in  April,  when  if  shifted  into  3- 
inch  and  put  in  the  hotbed  they  make 
fine  plants  for  use  in  boxes  and  vases 
end  of  May. 

The  large  double  flowering  is  the 
most  useful.  The  single  or  true  spe- 
cies is  always  raised  from  seed  which 
is  sown  out  of  doors  in  spring  with 
the  summer  annuals. 

Tom  Thumb  is  a  very  dwarf,  com- 
pact form  and  is  used  for  carpet  bed- 
ding. Raised  from  seed  sown  in  Feb- 
ruary. 

LANTANA. 

A  genus  of  tropical  evergreen  shrubs 
having  very  pretty  flowers,  mostly 
white,  pink  and  orange.  They  are 


sometimes  used  as  greenhouse  plants 
for  summer  decoration,  but  it  is  as 
flower  garden  plants  that  we  use  them. 
Our  summer  climate  suits  them  finely 
and  they  grow  very  freely.  They 
cannot  be  used  for  any  set  design,  but 
for  the  mixed  border,  or  even  in  a . 
mass,  they  are  very  effective.  The  odor 
of  the  leaf  is  not  at  all  agreeable  and 
the  flower  for  cutting  useless,  but  for 
all  that  it  is  a  very  desirable,  free 
growing  and  flowering  summer  plant. 
It  is  troubled  with  no  insects  or  dis- 
eases and  thrives  in  any  ordinary 
compost.  Grow  a  plant  or  two  of  each 
of  the  most  desirable  varieties  in  4  or 
5-inch  pots  over  summer  plunged  out- 
side, and  at  the  approach  of  frost  bring 
them  in  and  store  in  any  house  where 
the  temperature  does  not  go  below  50 
degrees.  After  New  Year's  cut  thesie 
plants  back  a  little  and  start  in  a 
warmer  house,  and  keep  syringed.  You 
will  soon  have  a  number  of  young 
shoots,  which  root  readily  in  our  ordi- 
nary propagating  bed.  From  the  time 
you  bring  in  the  plants  in  the  fall  till 
you  start  them  growing,  keep  them 
rather  dry.  We  sell  them  in  3-inch 
pots,  which  is  large  enough,  as  they 
grow  very  fast  when  planted  out. 

LAPAGERIA. 

This  is  one  of  the  very  handsomest 
greenhouse  climbers.  The  pendent 
flowers  are  so  rich  looking  that  when 
a  long  spray  of  the  plant  is  cut  with 
its  flowers  attached  nothing  can  sur- 
pass it  in  beauty.  Such  sprays  were 
seen  at  the  Boston  convention  in  1890, 
being  part  of  the  decoration  of  the 
exhibit  that  received  the  first  pre- 
mium for  wedding  arrangement.  The 
flowers  are  three  or  four  inches  long, 
resembling  a  miniature  inverted  wine 
glass,  and  of  great  substance.  They 
appears  at  the  axils  of  the  leaves.  The 
leaf  is  rather  small,  dark  green,  and 
the  stems  long  and  wiry. 

They  want  a  cool,  shaded  house  in 
summer  and  will  thrive  in  a  very  cool 
house  in  winter.  A  magnificent  plant 
of  the  variety  alba  covers  the  roof  (or 
did)  in  the  glazed  corridor  at  the  en- 
trance to  Veitch's  nursery,  Chelsea, 
England,  and  I  was  informed  it  had 
many  times  had  to  endure  several  de- 
grees of  frost.  It  was  then  (August) 
covered  with  its  magnificent  flowers. 
Unfortunately,  cut  close  to  the  stem 
the  single  flower  would  be  of  little  use 
to  us,  and  you  would  have  to  possess 
a  fine  plant  to  afford  the  cutting  of 
flowering  sprays. 

It  is  often  grown  in  large  pots  and 
trained  on  a  wi-re  trellis.  It  is,  how- 
ever, much  better  planted  out  in  the 
border  of  a  house  with  a  limit  to  the 
amount  of  room  the  roots  can  spread. 
I  have  tried  it  here  and  find  it  does 
not  like  our  hot  summers,  eo  it  should 
be  in  a  position  where  you  can  shade 
during  summer  and  give  plenty  of  air. 
A  thorough  good  drainage  to  the  bor- 
der or  tub  in  which  it  is  planted  is  of 
first  importance.  A  good  compost 
would  be  coarse  fibrous  loam  with  a 
tenth  of  decayed  cow  manure,  and  to 


136 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


that  add  another  tenth  of  old  broken 
up  mortar  or  crushed  charcoal. 

They  are  propagated  by  layering  the 
ends  of  strong  shoots  or  from  seed. 
Young  plants  were  once  very  expen- 
sive. They  are  now  obtainable  at  a 
moderate  cost.  When  raised  from 
*  seed  they  vary  both  in  size  and  color, 
so  fine  <  varieties  are  increased  by 
layers. 

Slugs  will  eat  the  tops  of  the  young 
asparagus-like  shoots,  but  cotton  bat- 
ting will  s£pp  them.  Tobacco  smoks 
will  keep  down  fly  and  thrip,  and  syr- 
inging, which  the  plant  delights  in 
throughout  the  spring  and  summer, 
will  prevent  red  spider  and  mealy  bug. 

There  is  only  one  species  (Lapa- 
garia  rosea),  but  there  is  a  pure  white 
form  and  from  seedlings  have  been 
produced  intermediate  colors.  It  is 
not  a  florist's  plant,  but  yet  one  that 
any  gardener  should  be  proud  to  grow 
well  for  its  aristocratic  beauty. 

LAWNS— MAKING  AND  THEIR 
CARE. 

A  fine,  well  kept  lawn  is  a  source  of 
pleasure  and  pride  to  the  owner,  and 
how  unseemly  it  would  be  to  see  a 
fifty  thousand  dollar  mansion  sur- 
rounded by  a  weedy,  ill  kept  lawn.  I 
have  remarked  some  years  ago,  per- 
haps only  to  myself,  that  the  lawns  of 
the  temperate  and  moist  parts  of  Eu- 
rope (such  as  Great  Britain)  were 
made  to  walk  on;  ours  are  made  to 
look  at.  "Keep  off  the  grass"  is  as- 
suredly more  frequently  seen  here  than 
there.  "The  Emerald  Isle"  gets  its 
poetic  designation  because  the  grass  is 
green  the  year  'round.  Ours  in  sum- 
mer, such  as  this  of  1899,  is  brown  in 
color,  and  for  months  in  winter  an 
"invisible  green."  So  we  prize  our 
lawns,  spend -money  on  them,  and  pay 
large  water  bills  for  the  privilege  of 
frequently  spoiling  them,  but  withal 
I  must  say  that  for  trimness  and  neat- 
ness and  greenness  in  our  cities  our 
lawns  will  compare  most  favorably 
with  those  I  saw  in  England  fourteen 
yeajrs  ago.  In  fact,  the  latter  were  a 
disappointment,  and  badly  needed  the 
water  cart  or  hose. 

Whether  you  use  sod  or  seed  to 
make  a  lawn,  the  ground  should  be 
dug  or  plowed  a  good  eight  or  nine 
inches  deep;  the  deeper  the  roots  can 
go  down  in  the  soil,  the  less  your  grass 
will  dry  out  in  summer.  If  you  can- 
not afford  that  amount  of  good  top 
soil  you  should  at  least  have  the  soil 
dug.  that  deep,  and  into  it  work  a  good 
lot  of  well  rotted  manure.  Break  it 
up  with  plow  or  spade,  so  that  the 
roots  will  go  down  into  it.  If  for  sod- 
ding, you  should  have  at  least  two 
inches  of  good  surface  loam,  so  that 
the  roots  will  quickly  take  hold. 

In  grading  a  piece  of  ground  you 
may  have  had  depressions  to  fill  up  in 
some  spots  several  feet  deep.  In  other 
places  you  have  had  to  take  off  the 
surface,  leaving  that  part  very  solid. 
The  filled  up  portion  will  be  sure  to 
sink,  so  it  should  be  got  down  to  its 
permanent  grade  either  by  ramming  or 
.by  water.  In  small  areas,  such  as 


where  excavations  have  been  made  for 
sewers,  there  is  no  rammer  equal  to 
the  hose.  Flood  it  with  water,  if  prac- 
ticable, and  that  will  take  it  down 
solid.  This  is  particularly  true  of  clay. 
Obtain  the  best  and  cleanest  sod  you 
can,  and  here  is  a  chance  for  you  to 
pull  out  the  dandelion  and  plantain; 
their  roots  are  severed  in  cutting  the 
sod,  and  it  takes  little  time  to  pull  out 
the  tops  with  the  short  pieces  of  root. 
It  is  seldom  we  get  sod  that  is  evenly 
cut,  but  if  the  ground  has  been  nicely 
graded  and  the  soil  not  too  solid,  you 
can  overcome  that,  and  a  good  heavy 
roller  will  flatten  down  small  inequali- 
ties. There  is  nothing  more  to  do  but 
give  the  sod  a  good  soaking  of  water. 
In  a  few  days  pass  the  mowing  ma- 
chine over  it  and  you  have  a  lawn 
pleasing  to  the  eye,  and  if  you  are  a 
reasonable  person  your  eye  will  not 
see  it  as  it  is  today,  but  will  picture  it 
after  a  month's  growth  and  several 
cuttings,  and  your  prophetic  vision 
will  be  looking  on  something  like  the 
surface  of  a  billiard  table. 

Where  there  is  any  quantity  of  lawn 
to  make  or  renew,  seeding  is  always 
preferable  to  sodding.  Not  alone  does 
it  make  a  better  looking  lawn,  better 
grass  and  better  quality  all  round,  but 
it  is  far  cheaper.  The  same  care  in 
digging  deep  and  manuring  is  essen- 
tial, and  the  top  two  inches  of  surface 
should  be  of  good,  friable  soil,  that  the 
delicate  little  plants  may  get  a  good 
start. 

You  can,  when  preparing  for  seed, 
put  on  an  absolutely  perfect  grade, 
whether  it  be  for  a  bowling  green, 
which  is  level,  or  a  gradual  fall  to  any 
point,  or  a  pleasing  slope  in  any  di- 
rection. When  I  say  you  can,  I  mean 
you  can  if  you  have  an  eye  and  know 
how  to  handle  the  rake,  and  you  are 
not  supposed  to  be  leveling  or  grad- 
ing if  you  can't.  Some  men  have  a 
great  gift  at  this  kind  of  work  and 
some  are  created  to  play  "Golf" 
"Gaawf." 

In  small,  defined  areas,  when  seed- 
ing it  is  a  good  plan  to  lay  a  strip  of 
sod  around  the  margin.  Sometimes  a 
bed  for  flowers  or  shrubs  is  laid  out 
on  the  lawns.  If  a  strip  of  sod,  say  a 
foot  wide,  is  laid  around  these  at  a 
correct  grade,  they  are  a  good  guide 
when  leveling,  or  what  may  be  called 
"putting  on  the  finishing  touch"  for 
intervening  spaces. 

I  may  have  rather  an  elaborate  way 
of  sowing  grass  seed,  but  it  answers 
well.  When  you  have  finished  raking 
and  have  the  surface  as  nearly  perfect 
as  your  eye  tells  you,  give  the  whole  a 
light  rolling.  You  will  see  much  plain- 
er then  any  little  inequalities  than 
when  the  ground  was  left  rough  by 
the  rake.  Mend  any  imperfections  and 
roll  those  places  again  where  you  dis- 
turb the  soil.  Then  sow  the  seed  on 
the  smooth  surface.  Next  pass  over 
the  surface  with  a  rake,  not  raking  as 
if  you  had  stones  and  rubbish  to  rake 
or  leveling  to  do,  but  let  the  teeth  of 
the  rake  pass  backwards  and  forwards 
lightly  over  the  surface.  This  will 
just  work  in  the  seeds,  or  enough  of 


them,  for  if  one  in  a  hundred  grows 
you  have  enough.  After  that  light 
raking  pass  over  again  with  a  light 
roller. 

Just  one  digression.  How  pleasant 
it  is  to  see  a  man  with  his  back  bent 
(or  your  own)  and  handling  the  rake 
as  an  expert,  for  expertness  can  be  ex- 
ercised with  a  rake  as  well  as  with  a 
bat,  a  ball,  or  a  billiard  cue.  Don't 
handle  the  rake  like  the  interesting 
school  marm  among  the  hay  fields  of 
her  country  cousins  during  vacation. 
Men  that  are  expert  with  these  simple 
tools  and  keep  sober  are  never  out  of 
employment. 

Sodding  is  done  as  soon  after  frost 
as  the  ground  is  dry  till  first  of  June, 
and  again  in  the  fall  if  the  weather  is 
not  too  dry  to  cut  it.  Seeding  is  also 
done  in  early  spring,  but  not  safe  to 
do  after  end  of  May,  as  we  frequently 
get  a  dry  spell,  and  unless  you  can 
reach  it  with  the  hose  it  may  be  a 
failure.  The  very  best  time  of  the 
whole  year  to  seed  a  lawn  is  from  the 
last  of  August  to  middle  of  September; 
even  a  little  earlier  in  August  is  all 
right.  We  are  almost  sure  to  get  some 
showers  the  end  of  August,  and  if 
within  reach  of  the  hose  you  are  not 
dependent  on  showers,  and  if  sown 
end  of  August  or  very  early  September 
you  have  a  lawn  well  established  be- 
fore winter  sets  in. 

In  fall  sowing,  which  is  the  best, 
there  is  no  need  of  sowing  anything 
with  the  grass  seeds.  Sometimes  in 
spring  sowing  a  sprinkling  of  oats  or 
rye  is  sown,  which  germinates  quickly, 
and  by  its  growth  shades  and  protects 
the  little  grass  spears  till  they  are  up 
a  few  inches.  In  a  few  weeks  the  oats 
are  mowed  off  with  a  scythe  and  the 
grass  takes  care  of  itself.  This,  of 
course,  is  quite  unnecessary  where 
you  sprinkle  occasionally.  Our  climate 
is  uncertain — no  two  seasons  alike — 
but  although  1  have  seen  many  acres 
sown  for  a  lawn  in  August  which  was 
a  disappointment  because  there  were 
no  rains,  yet  it  is  by  far  the  surest  and 
best  time  to  sow. 

There  are  many  seedsmen,  leading 
firms,  who  give  great  attention  to  the 
preparation  of  lawn  grass  seed,  and 
when  ordering  you  should  say  whether 
the  soil  is  a  clay  loam  or  sandy, 
whether  it  is  boggy  or  moist,  or  high 
and  dry.  Some  grasses  are  more  suit- 
able for  shade  than  others.  Most  of 
the  reputable  firms  charge  a  good 
round  sum  for  their  "extra  superfine 
lawn  grass  mixture."  Possibly  it  is 
not  the  seed  that  costs  so  much  as  the 
"extra  superfine,"  for  which  you  al- 
ways have  to  pay  high,  whether  it  be 
in  a  coat  or  cod  liver  oil. 

If  I  am  asked  to  lay  down  a  lawn,  I 
just  buy  a  good  clean  sample  of  Red 
Top  (Agrostis  vulgaris),  and  add  a 
few  pounds  of  White  Clover,  which  is 
best  sown  separately,  as  the  little 
weighty  seed  will  find  its  way  to  the 
bottom  of  your  bag  or  box  and  not  be 
distributed  evenly  with  the  grass.  The 
fine  mixtures  of  the  seedsman  are  all 
right  and  a  few  dollars  is  of  little  con- 
sequence in  such  an  important  and 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J37 


permanent  undertaking  as   making  a 
lawn. 

Most  of  the  grass  seeds  are  very 
light  and  will  fly  in  every  direction, 
much  preferring  the  openings  in  your 
face  to  the  ground.  When  there  is  a 
very  gentle  breeze  blowing  steadily  in 
one  direction  is  a  good  time  to  sow. 
You  will  soon  find  out  then  where  your 
seed  is  settling  and  gauge  your  dis- 
tance accordingly.  About  30  to  40 
pounds  of  grass  seed  is  usually  sown 
to  the  acre  and  5  or  6  pounds  of  White 
Clover.  If  a  small  plot  of  ground,  it 
is  easy  to  know  when  you  have  sown 
enough.  In  most  cases  you  will  sow 
far  too  thickly.  Neither  in  spring  nor 
fall  is  it  advisable  to  keep  the  newly 
made  lawns  mowed  closely,  so  you 


idea  of  nourishing  the  roots  you  are 
mistaken.  The  fertilizing  properties 
of  the  manure  have  passed  through 
the  soil  while  the  roots  were  inactive 
and  have  not  benefited  the  plant. 
With  excessive  watering  the  roots  are 
often  brought  near  the  surface  and 
at  the  same  time  continually  sprink- 
ling Impoverishes  the  surface  soil. 

So  one  inch  of  good  loam  to  which 
has  been  added  y2  Ib.  of  bone  meal  to 
the  bushel,  and  this  soil  thrown  on 
the  surface  of  the  lawn  and  worked 
in  by  the  back  of  the  rake  just  before 
rolling,  or  even  after,  will  do  more 
good  than  all  the  manure  you  can 
put  on.  Then  you  have  given  the 
grass  something  to  feed  on  and  you 


A  well-kept  Lawn. 


must  waive  appearance  for  the  benefit 
of  the  grass,  at  least  for  the  first  sea- 
son. 

The  care  of  lawns  is  something  I 
have  thought  and  talked  about  for 
years,  for  I  am  convinced  that  in  two 
features  our  city  and  suburban  lawns 
are  greatly  mismanaged.  The  only 
time  our  lawns  want  rolling  is  in  the 
spring.  Then  they  certainly  need  it. 
Winter  and  heavy  frosts  have  heaved 
up  places  here  and  there,  and  more 
than  that,  have  heaved  up  the  roots  of 
the  grass,  much  of  which  perishes  if 
not  pressed  back  by  the  roller.  'Roll- 
ing (and  this  time  it  should  be  done 
with  a  good  heavy  one)  must  be  done 
when  the  ground  is  drying  after  the 
frost  has  left  it;  when  it  is  soft  and 
pliable  but  not  wet  and  sticky.  The 
mowing  machine  will  do  the  rest  for 
the  remainder  of  the  season.  Rolling 
is  all  rigM,  and  if  you  have  time  roll 
often;  no  harm  done. 

The  practice  of  strewing  stable 
manure  on  the  grass  in  November 
with  the  idea  of  protecting  it  is  all 
nonsense.  It  brings  you  a  great  crop 
of  all  kinds  of  weeds,  and  that's  about 
all  it  does.  If  you  put  it  on  with  the 


will  see  great  results  in  a  few  weeks. 
Although  an  inch  over  the  whole  sur- 
face may  seem  burying  the  grass;  it 
will  soon  disappear  when  moved 
about  by  thei  back  of  the  rake,  and 
after  the  first  good  rain  you  will  not 
notice  it. 

The  other  feature  I  object  to  is  this 
continual  sprinkling,  and  many  of 
our  citizens  who  have  grass  surround- 
ing their  houses  are  insane  over  the 
matter.  "Henry,  you  had  better  put 
the  sprinkler  on  the  front  lawn."  I 
have  seen  this  done  while  yet  the 
rainbow  was  in  tha  sky,  the  effect  of 
a  receding  storm  that  had  an  hour  be- 
fore poured  out  its  liquid  gifts  in  co- 
pious quantities. 

The  grass  that  suffers  most  with 
this  idiotic  treatment  is  that  beneath 
the  shade  of  trees  and  buildings.  We 
know  scores  of  places  that  are  resod- 
ded  or  seeded  every  season,  or  at  most 
every  alternate  year,  and  simply  be- 
cause it  is  drowned  out.  "I  can't  get 
the  grass  to  grow  under  the  trees"  is 
the  continual  plaint.  It  grows  under 
the  shade  of  trees  in  our  orchards  and 
so  it  does  in  our  large  cemeteries  and 


public  parks,  and  greener  than  it  does 
in  the  sun,  simply  because  the  farmer 
and  the  park  and  cemetery  superin- 
tendents do  not  water  it.  He  has  not 
time,  and  would  not  if  he  could. 

This  continued  watering  brings  the 
roots  to  the  surface  only  to  perish.  It 
produces  a  weak,  forced  growth  of  the 
grass.  What  better  combination  could 
you  have  to  wear  out  a  lawn  than 
keeping  up  a  continual  forcing  of 
growth  by  water  and  then  clipping  it 
off  short  with  the  mowing  machine. 

You  will  ask  "What  better  can  you 
tell  us  to  do,  for  we  are  determined 
to  have  a  green  lawn?"  First,  if  your 
lawn  has  been  sodded  on  a  hard  clay 
or  sown  on  an  inch  or  two  of  poor 
sandy  soil,  dig  it  up  and  dig  deep, 
and  put  in  lots  of  manure.  If  you 
can't  do  that  and  your  lawn  turns 
brown  with  a  week  of  hot  weather  in 
June,  then  water  thoroughly  once  a 
week  and  then  let  it  alone.  Once  a 
week  is  often  enough  for  any  lawn  if 
thoroughly  done.  And  under  the  shade 
of  trees  remember  that  much  less  is 
needed. 

If  a  very  dry  summer  a  good  soak- 
ing once  in  two  weeks  is  ample  for 
grass  that  is  heavily  shaded  with 
trees.  Unfortunately  this,  in  many 
cases,  is  near  the  sidewalk  where 
your  man  or  yourself  delight  to  stand 
hose  in  hand  in  your  shirt  sleeves 
and  nightly  pour  ice  water  (for  cold 
it  often  is)  on  the  tender  grass  in 
hot  evenings  of  June,  remarking  to 
every  acquaintance  who  passes:  "Hot 
enough  for  you?"  The  struggling 
blade  of  grass  would  say,  could  it 
make  you  sensible  of  its  desires, 
"Shut  up  and  shut  off  and  let  me 
breathe  in  the  warm  night  air;  I  am 
shivering  with  the  cold  and  my  feet 
are  wet."  In  protracted  periods  of 
drought,  such  as  many  parts  have 
suffered  with  this  summer  of  1899, 
grass  will  turn  brown.  The  poorer 
the  soil  the  browner  the  grass,  but  it 
can  be  green  and  fresh  looking  with 
an  occasional  watering.  And  leave 
alone  this  everlasting  and  daily 
sprinkling. 

I  should  say  in  conclusion  that  all 
lawns,  big  or  little,  should  be  under- 
drained  with  tile  or  some  other 
means  as  good.  You  can  get  on  the 
lawn  earlier  in  the  spring  and  later 
in  the  fall,  but  more  Important  than 
that,  it  is  better  for  the  roots  of  the 
grass  than  land  that  is  boggy  and 
saturated  with  moisture.  All  lawns 
may  not  need  it,  but  most  do. 

The  mowing  machine  keeps  down 
all  troublesome  weeds  except  dande- 
lion and  plantain.  The  latter  perishes 
if  the  lawn  is  cut  an  inch  below  the 
surface.  For  dandelion  I  know  no 
cure  and  there  is  a  rich  prize  for  the 
man  who  will  discover  some  effectual 
method  for  its  extermination. 

LIBONIA. 

This  is  a  very  pretty  little  free 
flowering  plant  that  has  been  largely 
crowded  out  by  other  perhaps  more 
showy  plants.  It  makes  in  one  sea- 


13* 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


son  a  compact  little  plant  from  eight 
inches  to  a  foot  in  height,  with  small 
shining  leaves  and  profusely  covered 
with  small  tubular  scarlet,  yellow  tip- 
ped flowers.  We  used  to  grow  it  for 
selling  in  pots,  but  many  a  hundred 
we  cut  up  and  used  in  baskets  and 
cut  flowers.  A  greenhouse  temperature 
of  about  50  degrees  suits  it  well. 

The  terminal  growths  or  the  young 
breaks  of  the  cut  down  plants  root 
readily  in  winter  and  when  planted 
out  end  of  May  in  good,  light  loam, 
grow  nicely  during  summer.  It  needs 
little  pinching,  as  its  growth  is 
branching.  They  lift  well  in  Septem- 
ber and  by.  the  holidays  are  in  full 
flower.  They  are  so  easily  raised 
from  cuttings  that  plants  are  not 
worth  keeping  the  second  year. 

L.  floribunda  is  the  species  we  grew 
for  years,  but  a  great  improvement 
on  that  is  L.  Penrhosiensis. 

LILIUM. 

This  large  and  handsome  genus  of 
bulbous  plants  give  us  a  few  species 
that  are  of  first  importance  to  the 
florist.  All  are  beautiful  and  where 
there  is  an  opportunity  for  their  cul- 
tivation in  the  garden  few  flowering 
plants  can  be  of  more  interest.  They 
are  widely  scattered  over  the  North- 
ern Hemisphere  and  the  majority  of 
them  are  hardy  in  our  northern  clime. 

The  most  important  species  to  the 
florist  is  L.  longiflorum.  I  will  say 
here  that  there  are  several  varieties 
of  some  species.  The  variated  char- 
acter is  principally  difference  of  color 
or  markings  of  the  flower.  The  lily 
that  is  known  as  L.  Harrisii,  or  the 
Bermuda  lily,  must  be  a  variety  of 
longiflorum  which  the  mild  climate 
of  Bermuda  has  through  years  of  cul- 
tivation produced.  There  are  certain- 
ly characteristics  possessed  by  it  suf- 
ficient to  make  it  a  distinct  variety. 
The  leaves  are  thinner  and  less  glau- 
cous, the  petals  lack  the  substance  of 
longiflorum,  the  flower  is  larger,  and 
it  is  more  easily  forced  into  flower. 
Briefly,  the  plant  has  not  the  sub- 
stance of  the  true  longiflorum.  All  of 
these  traits  are  what  could  be  ex- 
pected after  years  of  cultivation  in  a 
semi-tropical  climate,  for  except  in 
coloring  what  is  it  that  produces  va- 
riations but  environment? 

The  following  cultural  directions 
are  suitable  for  the  Harrisii,  Bermuda 
grown  longiflorum  and  Japan  longi- 
florum, except  some  slight  differences 
which  will  be  noticed.  At  present  the 
Harrisii  and  what  we  know  as  Bermu- 
da longiflorum  (the  latter  is  the  true 
longiflorum  taken  to  Bermuda  and 
grown  a  few  years)  are  all  imported 
from  the  Bermuda  Islands  and  what 
with  the  disease  and  the  tariff  the 
bulbs  within  three  years  have  about 
doubled  in  cost  to  us.  Doubtless  there 
are  experiments  going  on  and  surely 
somewhere  in  our  southern  states  in 
the  broad  millions  of  square  miles  we 
have,  some  place  will  be  found  where 
the  longiflorum  can  be  grown  and 


ripened  early  enough  to  give  us  bulbs 
for  Easter  forcing. 

As  soon  as  you  receive  the  bulbs  get 
them  potted  without  delay.  The  bulbs 
are  loose  scaled,  quite  different  from 
a  tulip,  and  must  be  injured  by  lay- 
ing around  exposed  to  the  air.  We 
once  tried  (as  a  means  of  saving  la- 
bor) to  force  our  5  to>  7  inch  bulbs  in 
square  boxes  holding  a  dozen  plants 
and  about  five  inches  of  soil.  It  was 
by  no  means  a  success.  They  were 
very  awkward  to  handle  and  for  some 
reason  not  accounted  for  a  large  per- 
centage came  blind. 

We  put  the  5  to  7  bulbs  in  5-inch 
pots,  leaving  the  top  of  bulb  about 
even  with  surface  of  soil.  For  those 
we  want  early,  say  for  December  cut- 
ting, we  put  at  once  on  the  bench  in 
a  shady  house  and  after  one  watering 
cover  the  pots  lightly  with  excelsior. 
It  keeps  them  from  drying  out  and 
does  not  prevent  the  lily  from  push- 
ing up.  Remove  it  as  soon  as  the 
growth  is  up  an  inch.  Water  sparing- 
ly till  the  growth  starts.  As  there  are 
few  roots  they  don't  want  much  water. 
Later  batches  of  this  size  we  put  out- 
side in  frames  and  there  the  few 
inches  of  covering  is  of  still  greater 
service,  as  the  sun  would  daily  dry 
out  and  bake  the  soil.  Be  sure  that 
the  frames  you  stand  them,  in  have  a 
dry  bottom  and  that  water  does  not 
remain  under  the  pots. 

I  like  to  have  the  lilies  in  frames 
because  if  we  get  several  days  of  co- 
pious rain,  say  in  October,  it  would 
be  altogether  too  much  for  them. 
And  there  you  have  at  hand  the  means 
of  covering  them  with  glass. 

The  7  to  9  bulbs  we  put  into  4-inch 
and  treat  the  same.  We  were  told  by 
a  neighbor  that  he  had  found  that 
starting  the  bulbs  in  a  4-inch  and 
after  a  time  giving  them  a  shift,  re- 
tarded them  two  weeks,  or  made 
them  later  by  two  weeks  than  those 
put  at  once  into  their  flowering  pot,  a 
6-inch.  We  have  not  found  it  so  and 
shall  continue  to  put  the  large  bulbs 
of  Harrisii  and  the  Bermuda  grown 
longiflorum  first  into  the  4-inch  and 
after  a  growth  of  four  or  five  inches 
shift  them  into  a  6-inch,  or  the  strong- 
est into  a  7-inch. 

We  find  the  smaller  bulbs  (5  to  !)• 
the  best  to  grow  for  cutting,  for  the 
reason  that  you  can  make  a  better 
bunch  or  vase  of  flowers  with  stems 
of  -two  or  three  flowers  and  a  bud 
than  you  can  a  stalk  of  say  four  flow- 
ers and  three  buds  to  open. 

The  Bermuda  grown  longiflorum  is 
now  the  favorite  lily  for  Easter.  It 
makes  a  finer  plant  and  a  better,  and 
grows  with  ordinary  care  about  the 
most  desirable  height,  two  to  three 
feet.  But  it  is  well  for  church  deco- 
rations to  have  some  of  the  Harrisii, 
for  if  they  are  six  feet  high  many 
people  will  think  them  of  great  merit. 

It  is  not  only  at  Easter  or  Christ- 
mas or  Decoration  Day  that  we  want 
the  lilies.  From  November  on  till 
June  there  is  use  for  them.  At  wed- 


dings they  are  often  a  leading  feature 
and  at  funerals  they  are  in  constant 
use.  ;  1 1'[ 

Although  desirable  to  have  a  con- 
tinuous supply,  Easter  .is  the  time 
when  your  main  crop  will  be  wanted, 
and  every  effort  should  be  made  to 
get  them  right  to  the  day.  Though 
the  great  majority  of  plants  are  sold 
singly  in  5,  6  or  7-inch  pots,  there  is 
always  a  good  sale  for  a  number  of 
large  pots,  about  a  9-inch,  with  three 
plants  of  Bermuda  longiflorum.  For 
this  purpose  we  would  only  use  those 
bulbs.  Here  is  where  the  advantage 
of  starting  them  in  the  4-inch  is  ap- 
parent. You  can  select  three  plants 
that  are  all  about  the  same  size  and 
degree  of  earliness,  and  if  carefully 
handled  in  shifting  they  will  be  all 
three  in  bloom  at  the  same  time.  You 
may  have  another  pot  with  three 
plants  not  so  forward,  but  they  also 
will  be  in  flower  at  Easter  because 
the  heat  you  give  them  afterwards  will 
regulate  that. 

If  let  alone  in  one  house  at  one 
temperature  a  batch  of  lilies  would 
vary  in  time  of  flowering  a  month  or 
six  weeks.  It  is  entirely  by  moving 
them  about  into  different  degrees  of 
temperature  that  you  can  get,  say  900 
out  of  a  thousand  lilies  to  be  in  flower 
the  same  week. 

We  will  go  back  to  the  7  to  9  bulbs 
we  left  in  the  frame  in  4-inch  pots.  If 
you  leave  them  there  till  middle  of 
December,  "which  for  want  of  room 
you  may  have  to  do,  don't  let  a  sud- 
den hard  frost  sweep  down  on  them. 
Though  almost  or  quite  a  hardy  plant 
they  have  been  grown  somewhat  ar- 
tificially and  ten  to  fifteen  degrees  of 
frost  without  any  covering  will  hurt 
the  foliage  and  greatly  disfigure  them. 
I  can  speak  from  experience  on  this 
and  would  rather  the  lilies  had  little 
or  no  frost. 

If  Easter  is  early  you  will  want  to 
bring  them  in  by  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber. If  three  or  four  inches  above  the 
pot  we  then  shift  into  the  flowering 
pot  and  this  enables  us  to  fill  around 
tjie  stem  an  inch  or  less  with  soil, 
which  is  a  help  to  the  roots,  which 
often  come  out  above  the  bulb. 

We  start  in  with  a  night  tempera- 
ture of  45  to  50  degrees  and  increase 
to  60  later.  I  think  a  night  heat  of  60 
in  a  light  house — and  this  is  what 
lilies  should  always  have  till  they 
open  their  flowers — grows  them  nice- 
ly, and  can't  be  called  heavy  forcing. 
There  are  times  frequently  when  to 
get  the  backward  plants  in  bloom  we 
have  to  give  them  70  at  night  and  85 
to  90  in  day  time.  Beyond  that  de- 
gree of  heat  it  is  not  safe,  for  I  have 
seen  the  young  buds  when  an  inch  or 
so  long  just  dry  up. 

You  cannot  get  your  Easter  crop  of 
lilies  in  without  a  great  deal  of  labor 
in  moving  them  around,  and  with  the 
experience  of  years  you  will  yet  be 
anxious,  as  to  getting  all  at  the  right 
time.  No  possible  rule  can  be  laid 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


J39 


down,  as  Easter  is  a  changeable  date. 
It  is  sure  that  if  Easter  is  in  the  last 
days  of  March  you  will  have  to  force 
much  more  than  if  it  were  the  24th 
of  April.  Be  in  time  and  before  you 
move  lilies  into  a  cool  house  let  them 
be  opening  the  flowers.  I  have  no- 
ticed that  when  moved,  say  from  a 
night  temperature  of  60  degrees  to  one 
of  45  degrees,  when  the  buds  were  not 
fully  developed,  they  would  stand 
about  still.  It  is  too  great  a  check 
at  a  time  when  they  need  heat,  but 
when  just  expanding,  they  can  be  put 
in  a  very  cool  house  and  if  shaded  will 
keep  for  two  weeks  after  being  open. 

When  the  lilies  are  a  foot  above  the 
pots  they  want  a  stake  or  thejn  swing 
about  and  often  get  loose  and  fre- 
quently break  at  the  neck  of  the 
bulb. 

The  soil  we  use  for  lilies  is  a  good 
loam,  to  which  has  been  added  a  fifth 
of  old  hot-bed  manure,  and  we  pot 
rather  firmly.  For  the  5  to  7  bulbs 
which  are  cut  during  winter  and  are 
flowered  in  6-inch  pots  we  do  not 
trouble  to  put  any  drainage  in  the 
pots,  but  with  the  6-inch  and  larger 
we  always  use  a  crock  and  a  thin 
piece  of  green  moss.  Lilies  have  to 
stand  on  all  kinds  of  material  and 
when  this  little  precaution  is  taken 
they  are  less  likely  to  get  stuffed  up. 

We  frequently  notice  the  tips  of  the 
leaves  of  the  Harrisii,  and  sometimes 
of  the  longiflorum,  turn  brown  for 
half  an  inch  or  so.  Many  times  every 
leaf  is  so  affected.  The  cause  of  it  we 
don't  know  unless  it  be  the  effect  of 


A  Field  of  Lilium  Harrisii  in  Bermuda. 

fumigating,  which  the  lilies  need  so 
much.  Therefore  we  think  it  safest 
to  evaporate  some  of  the  tobacco  ex- 
tracts rather  than  burn  it.  The  vapor 
cannot  possibly  harm  anything,  and 
it  penetrates  into  the  thick  rosette  of 
leaves  which  is.  formed  just  before  the 
buds  are  seen. 

Lilies  are  much  troubled  with  aphis, 
in  fact  against  them  it  is  a  continual 
fight,  still  if  the  house  is  vaporized 
once  a  week  regularly,  it  will  save  you 
much  annoyance.-  The  fly  is  always 
deep  down  among  the  small  and  ten- 
der flower  buds,  and  if  undisturbed 
will  puncture  the  small  bud,  which 
causes  that  deformed  and  twisted 
flower.  So  in  addition  to  tobacco 
fumes  or  vapor  you  should  go  over 
the  crowns  of  the  plants  .occasionally 
and  in  the  center  of  them  with  a  rub- 
ber plant  sprinkler  squirt  in  some 
"Nikoteen"  diluted  200  times.  This 
may  seem  tedious,  but  it  need  not  cost 
a  quarter  of  a  cent  a  plant  and  will 
surely  pay  at  that  price. 

The  Bermuda  grown  Harrisii  wants 
a  little  more  heat  to  bring  it  in  early 
than  the  Harrisii.  We  never  try  to 
get  the  longiflorum  in  flower  till 
Easter. 

The  Japan  grown  longiflorum  are 
now  imported  in  large  quantities. 
They  arrive  much  later  than  the  Ber- 
muda grown  bulbs  and  it  would  be 
hard  to  get  them  in  flower  any  time 
in  April.  They  make  good  flowers  for 
later  use  and  if  kept  well  protected  in 
a. cold  frame  are  fine  for  Decoration 
Day.  Last  year  we  had  two  thousand 


in  3-inch  pots  in  a  very  cool  house  till 
end  of  February,  when  they  were 
shifted  into  5-inch  and  still  brought 
along  very  slowly,  and  by  keeping 
plenty  of  ventilation  on  in  the  cool 
nights  of  April  and  May  they  were 
exactly  right  for  the  30th  of  May. 
Out  of  the  lot  there  was  not  a  diseased 
plant  So  the  Bermuda  disease  is  not 
bad  in  the  land  of  the  Mikado. 

The  longiflorum  in  good,  well  drain- 
ed loam  is  hardy  in  this  latitude,  but 
would  be  benefited  by  a  covering  of  lit- 
ter every  fall  after  tha  stems  are  dry. 
We  Jhave  frequently  planted  out  the 
plants  of  Harrisii  that  had  been 
grown  and  cut  at  Easter.  If  a  good 
piece  of  stem  is  left,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter. Many  of  them  will  send  up  a 
flower  stalk  from  which  you  will  get 
a  few  flowers  in  July  and  August.  This 
is  all  the  use  you  can  make  of  them. 
To  force  any  of  them  again  is  out  of 
the  question. 

I  know  no  cure  for,  or  any  means  of 
detecting,  a  diseased  bulb.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  with  a  change  of  soil  and  care 
in  discarding  diseased  plants  and  bulbs 
that  our  Bermuda  friends  will  in  fut- 
ure supply  us  with  a  higher  grade  of 
bulbs.  One  of  the  advantages  I  in- 
tended to  mention  in  starting  the  large 
bulbs  in  small  pots  was  that  by  shift- 
ing time  you  will  be  able  to  discover 
most  of  the  diseased  plants,  and  will 
not  have  wasted  space,  labor  and  soil 
on  them  nearly  so  much  as  you  would 
in  6  or  7-inch. 

Lilium  lancifolium  (which  correctly 
is  L.  speciosum)  is  next  to  the  longi- 
florum most  valuable  to  the  florist;  al- 


140 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


bum  roseum  and  rubrum.  They  are  all 
about  identical  in  growth.  They  are 
not  forced  for  winter  or  spring,  but 
are  very  acceptable  in  July  and  Au- 
gust, when  we  are  often  short  of  flow- 
ers. With  a  covering  of  leaves  over 
the  ground  during  winter,  they  are 
quite  hardy  with  us. 

We  receive  the  bulbs  (from  Japan) 
in  late  fall  and  winter,  and  they  are 
well  packed,  losing  little  of  their 
strength  in  the  long  journey.  We  used 
to  try  these  in  cold-frames  during  win- 
ter, but  it  was  not  a  success,  and  now 
we  never  fail  by  potting  them  in  7 
and  8-inch  pots,  three  bulbs  in  a  pot. 
Put  them  in  dry  loam  a  trifle  below  the 
surface,  but  do  not  water  them,  and 
place  the  pots  beneath  your  coolest 
bench,  where  there  is  the  least  drip. 
If  the  soil  is  moderately  moist  the 
bulbs  will  remain  seven  or  eight  weeks 
without  starting  or  making  any 
growth.  When  they  do  start  and 
have  grown  a  few  inches  they  must  be 
given  the  light  and  grown  on,  but 
coolly. 

Any  of  the  lilies,  either  of  the  longi- 
florum  or  lancifolium,  want  little  wa- 
ter till  they  have  made  good  roots,  but 
after  starting  they  soon  fill  the  pots 
with  roots,  and  from  then  on  they 
want  an  abundance  of  water. 

When  the  lancifolium  lilies  are  in 
flower,  and  before  they  are  in  flower, 
they  should  be  given  the  coolest  house, 
with  all  the  ventilation  possible.  It  is 
midsummer  when  these  lilies  are  in 
flower,  so  if  kept  cool  and  shaded  the 
plants  will  be  stronger,  the  flowsrs 
larger  and  they  will  last  longer.  Out  of 
doors  in  a  sheltered  and  shady  place 
will  do  for  the  lancifolium  type  very 
well  for  the  last  month. 

These  lilies  are  much  troubled  with 
green  fly  and  need  fumigating  occa- 
sionally. They  have  a  most  delightful 
odor,  agreeable  to  all. 

The  bulbs'  of  Lilium  lancifolium 
need  not  be  thrown  away.  They  are 
worth  planting  out  in  some  good  soil 
and  will  grow  for  years.  We  have  also 
forced  them  the  second  year  with  good 
success.  If  you  intend  to  do  this,  don't 
throw  the  bulbs  under  the  bench  as 
soon  as  the  flower  is  cut,  but  stand 
them  out  of  doors  and  keep  watered 
till  the  foliage  is  gone  and  the  stems 
are  dry,  when  they  can  be  cut  off  and 
the  pots  stored  under  a  very  cool 
bench  during  winter.  In  February 
shake  them  out  and  repot  and  treat  as 
those  first  imported.  If  bulbs  are  not 
received  till  March,  then  they  can  be 
given  a  bench  at  once,  but  little  water 
till  they  start. 

Lilium  auratum,  most  gorgeous  of 
all  the  family,  has  flowers  sometimes 
a  foot  across,  with  broad  bands  of  yel- 
low and  beautifully  spotted,  which 
gave  it  the  name  of  "the  golden  rayed 
lily  of  Japan."  It  grows  from  two  to 
three  feet  and  strong,  healthy  bulbs 
frequently  bear  fifteen  to  twenty  flow- 
ers. We  can  very  well  remember  the 
introduction  of  this  magnificent  lily 
and  the  sensation  it  created  when  first 
flowered.  It  has  long,  narrow  leaves. 
I  have  never  seen  it  here  out  of  doors 
where  it  has  been  treated  as  a  hardy 


lily,  but  with  good  care  and  in  well 
drained  soil  it  may  be  quite  hardy,  as 
large  masses  of  it  are  perfectly  hardy 
in  Scotland;  and  plantings  of  several 
hundred  bulbs  are  a  rich  sight.  We 
treat  it  precisely  as  we  do  the  lanci- 
folium section.  It  has  a  powerful 
odor,  too  much  for  most  people,  and 
this  forbids  its  use  as  a  decorative 
plant  or  as  a  cut  flower  in  designs.  Un- 
fortunately many  imported  bulbs  make 
but  a  poor  growth. 

Before  the  splendid  forcing  qualities 
of  the  L.  Harrisii  were  known,  and 
when  the  growing  of  the  bulbs  in  Ber- 
muda was  not  an  industry  as  it  now  is, 
we  used  to  grow  and  force  the  beauti- 
ful Lilium  candidum.  Its  delightful, 
pure  pearl  white  spikes  were  in  great 
demand  for  cutting,  as  well  as  for 
Easter  plants.  It  would  be  useless  to 
describe  our  manner  of  forcing  (al- 
though it  differed  little  from  that  of 
the  longiflorum),  because  it  is  entire- 
ly superseded.  It  should  be  always 
grown  wherever  you  have  ground  to 
grow  it.  It  does  well  in  rather  a 
heavy  soil  and  should  not  be  disturbed 
for  several  years.  Its  beautiful  flowers 
are  always  in  demand  when  in  season, 
with  us  end  of  June  and  July. 

There  are  no  other  lilies  grown  in 
pots  for  commercial  use.  Many  spe- 
cies doubtless  could  be,  but  would  not 
be  profitable.  Beds  of  L.  longiflorum 
and  candidum  should  be  on  every  flor- 
ist's place.  And  if  you  have  the  room 
many  other  species^  are  beautiful 
plants  for  the  border.  The  principal 
thing  to  observe  with  the  lilies  in  the 
ground  in  winter  is  that  it  is  a  well 
drained  soil.  A  good  loam  overlying 
a  gravel  would  be  perfection,  but  any 
soil  that  is  drained  will  do.  In  the 
absence  of  peat,  which  many  like,  dig 
in  a  few  inches  of  very  rotten  manure 
or  rotten  leaf-mould  from  the  woods, 
and  plant  the  bulbs  when  perfectly 
dormant.  August  is  a  good  month. 
Plant  six  inches  deep. 

In  addition  to  the  longiflorum  and 
lancifolium  type,  these  will  be  found 
perfectly  hardy: 

L.  canadense,  orange,  finely  spotted, 
two  to  three  feet. 

L.  croceum,  yellow,  four  to  five  feet. 

L.  excelsum  or  testaceum,  yellow 
tinged  with  red,  four  to  five  feet. 

L.  Hansonii,  reddish  orange,  three  to 
four  feet. 

L.  Humboldti,  orange,  very  fine,  four 
to  five  feet. 

L.  paradalinum,  orange  with  purple 
spots,  five  to  six  feet;  of  this  there  are 
several  fine  varieties. 

L.  pomponium,  bright  red,  two  to 
three  feet. 

L.  rubescens,  or  Washingtonianum, 
white  tinged  with  purple,  four  to  five 
feet. 

L.  superbum,  orange  red,  spotted, 
four  to  five  feet. 

L.  tenuifolium,  scarlet,  dwarf  and 
slender,  but  handsome,  one  foot. 

L.  Thunbergianum,  red,  two  to  three 
feet. 

L.  tigrinum,  the  well  known  tiger 
lily,  deep  orange,  purple  spots,  very 
hardy,  two  to  three  feet. 


And  several  others,  both  species  and 
varieties. 

LILY  OF  THE  VALLEY     (CONVAL- 
LARIA  MAJALIS). 

We  can  remember  pots  of  lily  of  the 
valley  being  grown  in  our  green- 
houses in  March  and  April  many 
years  ago.  These  pots  (a  5  or  6-inch) 
contained  a  solid  mass  of  roots  and 
were  not  disturbed  or  shifted  for  sev- 
eral years.  After  flowering  they  were 
stood  outside  and  kept  watered  till 
fall,  when  they  were  plunged  in  coal 
ashes  and  a  few  inches  of  the  same 
material  thrown  over  them.  This  was 
growing  them  in  a  natural  way,  and 
a  very  great  addition  they  were  to  the 
attractiveness  of  the  conservatory.  As 
a  pot  plant  they  are  of  little  consid- 
eration. Within  twenty-five  years  the 
flower  must  now  be  supplied  the  year 
around. 

When  first  lily  of  the  valley  was 
produced  in  the  summer  and  fall 
months  it  commanded  a  most  lucra- 
tive price,  but  nowadays  at  the  close 
margin  at  which  it  is  sold  you  must 
be  successful  or  you  had  far  better  not 
attempt  it;  rather  leave  the  growing 
to  the  specialist  and  buy  your  flowers 
from  the  grower  or  commission  man. 

A  few  years  ago  in  the  columns  of 
the  "American  Florist"  appeared  sev- 
eral articles  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  R. 
Simpson,  who  can  not  only  write 
plainly  and  explicitly  convey  his 
knowledge  to  us,  but  has  been  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  successful  grow- 
ers of  this  dainty  little  flower,  and 
though  not  copying  him  verbatim  I 
acknowledge  to  him  many  of  the  im- 
portant details  on  growing  now  given 
in  this  article,  and  particularly  the 
care  of  the  pips  in  cold  storage,  for  it 
must  be  remembered  that  while  the 
winter  is  the  natural  cold  storage  for 
the  pips  that  give  us  the  flowers  from 
middle  of  January  to  possibly  end  of 
May,  the  other  seven  or  eight  months 
we  must  depend  on  those  whose 
growth  has  been  arrested  by  cold 
storage. 

v  I  never  did  believe  that  to  put  the 
original  cases  into  cold  storage  and 
expect  them  to  come  out  in  seven  or 
eight  months  and  give  good  results 
was  at  all  the  reasonable  or  proper 
plan.  When  first  received,  which  is 
usually  in  November,  unpack  at  once. 
Large  growers  place  them  in  trenches 
in  cold-frames  and  between  each  row 
of  trenches  put  some  sandy  soil  or 
finely  sifted  coal  ashes,  and  over  the 
tops  of  the  pips  two  inches  of  the 
same  material.  Small  growers  will 
find  boxes  holding  conveniently  the 
quantity  they  want  to  force  weekly  or 
bi-weekly  more  convenient  than  the 
first  plan,  because  you  can  easily 
bring  in  the  box  containing  just  the 
quantity  you  want.  When  putting 
them  outside  the  smallest  and  weak- 
est pips  should  be  put  by  themselves 
and  labeled  and  reserved  for  the  latest 
spring  forcing,  but  with  those  that 
are  to  go  into  cold  storage  it  is  just 
the  reverse,  and  those  which  are  to 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


be  retarded  longest  should  be  the 
strongest. 

Sometimes  we  find  the  roots  very 
dry.  I  prefer  to  dip  the  roots  for  a 
few  moments  in  a  tub  of  water  before 
putting  outside.  Let  a  frost  come,  a 
good,  hard  one,  so  that  the  covering 
is  frozen,  and  no  harm  if  the  roots 
are,  then  put  a  foot  of  hay  or  excel- 
sior over  them  and  cover  with  shut- 
ters to  keep  off  rain.  It  is  not  well 
for  the  roots  to  be  too  wet.  Glass  sash 
would  keep  off  the  rain,  but  it  would 
also  raise  the  temperature  on  bright 
days  during  a  thaw,  and  that  is  just 
what  you  don't  want.  These  condi- 
tions will  do  for  all  the  pips  that  you 
force  during  winter  and  up  to  the  time 
that  we  get  the  flowers  outside.  But 
long  before  this  you  must  have  re- 
moved to  the  cold  storage  the  roots 
that  are  wanted  for  summer  and  au- 
tumn. 

The  time  to  put  them  in  cold  stor- 
age may  vary  by  a  month  because 
the  weather  varies.  They  must  be 
absolutely  dormant  when  removed  to 
the  cold  storage,  and  that  must  be 
closely  watched.  We  have  tried  re- 
peatedly to  store-  away  a  few  thou- 
sand in  our  local  cold  storage  ware- 
houses, and  if  we  could  be  always  suc- 
cessful with  them  it  would  be  a  great 
convenience  and  cheaper  than  build- 
ing one  of  your  own.  But  it  is  very 
uncertain  work  and  we  have  often 
blamed  ourselves  when  perhaps  it  was 
the  cold  storage  management  that  was 
at  fault. 

Mr.  Simpson  at  some  length  gives 
instructions  how  to  build  a  cold  stor- 
age house,  but  were  I  to  repeat  it  I 
am  sure  you  could  not  build  one  by 
it  without  visiting  some  one  who  has 
one  and  seeing  for  yourself  "how  to 
do  it."  The  most  comforting  part  of 
it  is  that  Mr.  S.  says  a  cold  storage 
house  that  will  hold  400,000  valley 
roots  can  be  built  for  $600.  The  in- 
terest on  that  sum  seems  very  trifling 
when  the  success  of  even  a  quarter  of 
the  above  number  is  grown.  Whether 
you  have  your  own  cold  storage  or 
hire  it,  the  conditions  which  you 
should  try  and  preserve  are  these: 

Get  convenient  sized  boxes,  six  or 
seven  inches  deep,  line  them  with 
moist  sphagnum  moss  and  between 
the  bunches  of  roots  put  moist  sand, 
not  saturated,  and  cover  pips  with  an 
inch  or  two  of  sphagnum.  To  occupy 
little  space  you  will  have  to  put  slats 
or  boards  on.  top  of  each  box,  so  that 
they  can  be  piled  up  one  above  the 
other.  In  renting  space  in  cold  stor- 
age this  would  be  a  great  considera- 
tion. When  first  put  in  give  them  10 
degrees  of  frost  and  in  a  few  days 
let  the  temperature  go  up  to  28  or  29 
degrees  and  remain  at  that. 

In  large  cold  storage  houses  they 
have  rooms  at  all  temperatures  and 
will  ask  you  what  degree  you  want, 
so  the  same  plan  can  be  carried  out 
by  moving  the  boxes.  If  when  re- 
moving the  roots  from  the  frame  to 
cold  storage  they  appeared  dry,  give 
the  whole  box  a  watering  before  put- 
ting it  away,  but  it  is  not  well  for  the 


sand  to  be  too  wet  or  the  roots  may 
rot.  Those  small  growers  who  hire 
the  local  cold  storage  for  their  arrest- 
ed lilies  may  as  well  put  them  in  suit- 
able boxes  when  first  receiving  them 
in  the  fall;  then  with  the  addition  of 
some  moisit  sphagnum  over  the  pips 


Flower  Spray  of  Lily  of  the  Valley. 

they  can  be  easily  removed  at  short 
notice  to  their  cold  surroundings. 

There  have  been  many  ways  of  forc- 
ing the  pip  into  flower.  The  English 
growers  use  ordinary  loam  as  we  use 
sand,  and  Mr.  Simpson  asserts  that 
they  (the  English)  produce  larger 
spikes  and  finer  flowers  than  are 
grown  here,  but  does  not  attribute 
that  to  cultivation  so  much  as  obtain- 
ing a  uniformly  high  grade  of  roots 
and  being  very  particular  that  they 


are  first  class.  A  firm  that  grows 
annually  six  millions  of  pips,  as  does 
Thomas  Rochford,  near  London,  de- 
serves certainly  to  get  the  best  there 
is  in  the  market.  Germany  supplies 
them  and  is  likely  to  supply  them  for 
a  long  time. 

In  obtaining  the  pips  get  the  very 
best  you  can.  Don't  be  guided  by  any 
tacked  on,  absurd  title,  but  find  out  a 
good  source  or  good  man  and  when 
you  are  well  treated  stick  to  that  man. 
Unless  you  get  a  well  developed  crown 
that  contains  a  good  spike  of  flowers 
in  an  embryonic  size  your  most  skill- 
ful and  faithful  care  will  not  produce 
a  good  flower. 

When  brought  in  to  force  the  tips  of 
the  roots  are  chopped  off.  They  make 
no  fibrous  root  while  growing,  but  I 
don't  believe  the  roots  should  be 
chopped  off  too  short.  So  the  boxes, 
if  you  use  boxes,  should  be  five  inches 
deep,  leaving  the  pips  just  above  the 
surface  of  the  sand.  You  can  place 
the  roots  as  close  as  they  will  con- 
veniently go  in  the  trench  of  sand  and 
three  inches  between  the  rows.  Some 
growers  place  an  inch  of  sphagnum 
between  the  pips  on  the  surface  of 
the  box  and  when  the  boxes  are  going 
on  the  pipes  I  think  it  a  good  plan. 
Large  growers  who  use  beds  of  sand 
do  not  bother  with  moss,  and  under 
the  conditions  it  is  not  necessary. 

I  have  grown  fairly  good  valley  in 
boxes  placed  on  the  pipes.  Raise  the 
boxes  a  few  inches  from  the  pipes  by 
strips  of  wood.  The  first  ten  days  we 
place  over  pipes  that  have  a  good, 
strong  heat,  then  remove  for  a  few 
days  to  over  some  pipes  that  are  not 
so  warm  and  a  little  more  light,  and 
when  color  begins  to  show  remove 
them  to  top  of  bench,  but  still  shaded 
from  the  sun.  Always  avoid  wetting 
the  bells  after  showing  color,  but  be- 
fore that  syringe  frequently  and  water 
the  sand  daily.  When  lily  of  the  val- 
ley is  about  fully  expanded  (that  is, 
the  top  bells)  it  can  be  cut  and  placed 
in  water  in  bunches  for  twenty-four 
hours.  They  travel  and  keep  better 
than  those  freshly  cut,  as  do  most  all 
flowers. 

Large  growers  (and  this  plan  is  bet- 
ter far  than  the  boxes  with  those  that 
want,  say,  from  one  to  two  thousand 
a  week)  is  to  put  the  roots  at  once 
into  six  inches  of  sand  in  the  bed.  A 
small,  narrow  house,  with  a  northern 
aspect,  such  as  you  often  see  on  the 
north  side  of  an  old-fashioned  three- 
quarter  span  house,  would  be  an  ex- 
cellent place  to  grow  the  valley,  Top, 
or  atmospheric,  heat  is  not  of  conse- 
quence, but  one  or  two  pipes  on  side 
of  wall  or  path  is  advisable  to  be  used 
in  very  severe  weather.  The  bench 
should  be  boarded  up  back  and  front. 
If  you  don't  have  any  pipes  except 
under  the  bench  have  one  of  the  front 
boards  hinged  so  that  it  can  be  opened 
in  very  severe  weather  to  warm  the 
air  of  the  house,  for  in  those  times 
when  you  are  firing  so  hard  you  can 
spare  the  heat  from  beneath  the  bench. 
In  a  section  of  bench  in  an  ordinary 
house  this  is  not  needed  because  the 
house  is  always  warm  enough. 


J42 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


The  bench  should  be  of  roofing  slate 
over  which  you  spread  half  an  inch  of 
cement,  all  of  which  is  a  good  con- 
ductor of  heat.  Mr.  Simpson  says  that 
under  the  bench  should  be  four  2-inch 
pipes  or  three  4-inch.  If  steam,  that 
would  do,  but  better  have  five  2-inch 
hot  water  pipes  and  four  4-inch.  There 
should  be  a  12-inch  board  above  the 
bench,  back  and  front,  the  front  one 
movable  for  convenience  in  planting, 
cutting,  etc.  These  boards  should  be 
high  enough  so  that  when  the  shading 
is  put  on  it  would  be  four  or  five 
inches  above  the  tops  of  the  fully  de- 
veloped flowers.  It  is  bottom  heat 
that  is  the  great  requisite,  as  we  all 
know,  and  the  earliest  forced  bulbs 
want  about  85  degrees,  gradually  less- 
ening the  heat  till  in  April,  near  their 
natural  time  of  growing,  65  to  70  is 
enough. 

For  the  first  few  days,  or  till  the 
pips  have  grown  three  or  four  inches, 
they  are  covered  with  wooden  shut- 
ters which  almost  entirely  exclude  the 
light,  then  these  are  replaced  by  cloth 
shutters;  cheese  cloth  oiled  and  fast- 
ened on  frames  will  do  nicely  and  the 
last  few  days  these  are  removed  and 
they  are  given  full  light,  but  no  direct 
sunlight.  I  have  often  noticed  in  hand- 
ling valley  that  was  in  boxes  that 
even  if  fully  developed  they  quickly 
wilt  if  exposed  to  any  draught. 

This  same  place  will  do  for  the  sum- 
mer and  fall  growing,  but  little  bot- 
tom heat  is  needed,  though  shade  and 
watering  are  the  same.  In  summer  in 
addition  to  the  portable  shading  over 
the  plants  the  house  should  be  shaded 
and  made  as  cool  as  possible. 

We  always  handle  a  good  deal  of 
the  flowers  during  the  short  week  they 
are  in  bloom  out  of  doors,  and  very 
poor  stuff  it  often  is.  A  heavy  shower 
will  quickly  ruin  it.  Every  florist  who 
has  the  ground  should  have  some  beds 
outside,  planted  with  good  pips.  The 
beds  will  last  for  years.  They  should 
be  made  the  size  of  your  frames  or 
planted  in  permanent  frames.  Then 
when  winter  was  over  you  could  put 
on  the  sash  and  with  water  and  shade 
produce  some  very  fine  flowers  and 
foliage  several  days  ahead  of  the  com- 
mon, unprotected  stuff. 

It  would  be  also  possible  with  the 
aid  of  some  ice  and  shade  to  retard 
your  crop  a  week  or  ten  days  after 
the  outside  flowers  were  gone,  all  of 
which  would  be  much  cheaper  than 
the  most  ready  way  of  forcing  the  im- 
ported pips. 

Lily  of  the  valley  can  never  recede 
in  public  favor.  It  has  all  the  attri- 
butes that  appeal  to  the  most  refined 
and  delicate  senses.  Its  grace  and 
simple  beauty  is  unsurpassed  and  its 
delicate  odor  is  loved  by  all.  Even 
supposing  you  don't  get  more  than  75 
per  cent,  of  good  flowers,  then  it  is  a 
more  profitable  flower  to  the  grower 
and  retailer  than  almost  anything  you 
handle,  and  there  is  no  greenhouse 
where  provision  could  not  be  made  for 
its  successful  culture. 

Pans  and  pots  of  it  sell  at  Christ- 
mas and  Easter.  They  can  ba  treated 


just  as  described  above,  but  a  better 
way  is  to  select  roots  with  some  per- 
fect flowers  and  foliage  and  put  them 
into  the  pans  when  in  full  bloom. 
There  is  no  fraud  about  this  as  if  kept 
moist  they  last  just  as  long  as  those 
grown  in  the  pans  from  the  start  and 
will  have  a  better  appearance.  I  have 
never  had  any  satisfaction  from  the 
imported  clumps  and  would  not  ad- 
vise anyone  to  bother  with  them. 

LINUM  TRIGYNUM. 

Some  of  the  species  of  this  genus  are 
used  in  flower  gardening.  L.  grandi- 
florum  is  a  pretty,  deep  rose-colored 
summer  annual.  L.  trigynum  is  the 
species  that  is  sold  for  a  winter  bloom- 
ing plant.  It  is  not  likely  to  become 
very  popular  as  a  house  plant  on  ac- 
count of  its  dropping  its  petals  so 
quickly,  although  for  the  conserva- 
tory it  is  a  most  showy  plant  and  is 
always  in  the  best  of  order  about 
Christmas  time.  When  supplied  with 
pot  room  and  plenty  of  water  it  makes 
a  shapely,  rounded  plant,  covered  with 
its  bright  yellow  flowers.  It  is  often 
attacked  by  red  spider  and  needs  daily 
syringing  when  in  the  greenhouse.  A 
night  temperature  of  50  degrees  does 
it  well. 

It  roots  freely  from  the  young 
growths  in  March  and  should  be  plant- 
ed out  of  doors  in  a  light  soil  end  of 
May.  It  will  need  constant  pinching 
to  keep  it  compact,  and  lifts  with  the 
greatest  ease  in  September.  Its  flow- 
ers come  in  clusters  at  the  axil  of  the 
leaf  and  although  a  flower  lasts  but  a 
few  days  there  is  such  an  abundance 
to  take  its  place  that  the  plants  for  a 
month  or  more  are  extremely  showy. 

LOBELIA. 

This  extensive  genus  includes  some 
very  handsome  hardy  perennial  plants. 
L.  cardinalis,  the  Cardinal  Flower,  is 
one.  They  are  best  raised  from  seed 
sown  in  August  and  wintered  in  a 
cold-frame  and  placed  in  their  perma- 
nent position  early  in  the  spring.  This 
method  is  suited  to  a  great  many  of 
our  best  hardy  perennial  plants  that 
do  not  divide  easily. 

The  dwarf  tender  species  of  lobelias 
are  of  most  interest  to  us,  although 
they  are  not  of  such  value  here  as  a 
flower  garden  plant  as  they  are  in  the 
cooler  summers  of  Northern  Europe. 
In  Great  Britain  some  of  the  best 
flower  garden  effects  are  produced  by 
the  blue  lobelia,  where  they  can  be  de- 
pended on  to  flower  all  summer.  Here 
they  are  very  gay  out  of  doors  till  per- 
haps the  middle  of  July,  when  they 
will  go  entirely  out  of  flower  and  your 
design  is  left  with  a  streak  of  dark 
green  in  place  of  the  brightest  of 
blues. 

For  hanging  baskets,  vases  and  ve- 
randa boxes  they  are  to  us"  indispensa- 
ble, and  if  not  lasting  all  summer 
they  add  greatly  in  color  when,  first 
used,  and  are  not  so  much  missed 
later  as  stronger  growing  droopers 
take  their  place. 


Select  a  few  of  the  best  plants  in 
September,  cut  them  back  a  trifle,  and 
before  a  hard  frost  dig  up  and  pot  and 
give  them  a  light,  cool  place.  With  a 
little  more  heat  they  will  give  plenty 
of  cuttings,  and  both  from  the  old 
plants  and  the  young  ones  you  will 
get  all  the  cuttings  you  want,  which 
root  like  the  proverbial  weed. 

We  like  to  grow  them  on  hanging 
shelves,  as  it  affords  room  to  let  them 
droop.  We  endeavor  to  be  well  sup- 
plied with  plenty  of  lobelias  in  3-inch 
pots  with  a  thick  growth  eight  or  ten 
inches  long  and  just  ready  to  flower 
about  middle  to  end  of  May,  and  this 
you  can  do  from  cuttings  struck  in 
February  if  pinched  once  or  twice  and 
given  a  good  light  shelf. 

L.  Erinus  and  its  varieties  is  the 
one  most  useful  to  us,  the  variety 
called  speciosa  being  most  in  use.  If 
seed  is  sown  of  speciosa  you  will  get 
a  number  of  varied  forms,  and  some  of 
those  grown  by  us  have  originated  lo- 
cally. A  good,  free  growth  and  a  fine 
blue  flower  is  what  we  select  in  spe- 
ciosa. 

Paxtoniana  is  another  variety  of 
Erinus  which  is  still  more  straggling 
in  growth,  with  light  blue  flowers 
with  white  throat. 

The  dwarf  compact  form  of  Erinus, 
"compacta,"  which  is  so  largely  used 
in  Europe,  would  be  the  best  of  all  for 
bedding,  but  it  is  not  to  be  depended 
upon  here  and  is  not  of  any  other  use. 

Seed  of  the  varieties  of  Erinus  can 
be  sown  in  January  and  by  the  help 
of  a  hot-bed  in  April  and  May  would 
be  large  enough  for  bedding  plants, 
but  to  have  them  in  good  order  for 
our  vases,  etc.,  cuttings  are  much  bet- 
ter. 

LYSIMACHIA. 

There  is  one  species,  Numinularia, 
the  creeping,  little,  yellow-flowered 
"Money  Vine,"  or  moneywort,  that  be- 
sides being  one  of  our  best  hardy  rock- 
work  plants  is  with  us  a  standard  so- 
called  vine  for  baskets  and  vases.  Its 
long,  pendant  growth  is  just  what  we 
want  for  that  purpose.  For  cultivation 
see  Glechoma. 

JJon't  attempt  to  take  it  into  the 
greenhouse  in  any  shape  in  the  fall,  or 
it  will  get  rusty  and  be  useless.  To 
thrive  it  must  have  its  freeze-up  dur- 
ing the  few  hard  winter  months. 

MANETTIA. 

All  the  species  are  climbers,  and 
used  on  trellises  they  make  good 
summer  vines  in  situations  that  have 
a  sheltered,  sunny  exposure.  They  are 
not  a  prominent  commercial  plant,  but 
we  occasionally  are  asked  for  them. 
They  root  very  easily  during  winter 
from  tender  tips  of  the  growth,  and 
will  grow  in  any  good  loam.  The 
flowers  are  tubular,  freely  produced 
and  attractive. 

The  species  are:  M.  bicolor,  scarlet 
with  yellow  tip;  M.  coccinea,  white 
tube  spotted  with  red,  yellow  throat; 
M.  cordifolia,  scarlet;  M.  micans,  or- 
ange; this  species  is  more  suited  for 
inside. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Martinezia  Caryotaefolia. 


MARANTA. 


These  very  ornamental  leaved  hot- 
house plants  are  now  known  botanic- 
ally  as  calathea,  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  we  shall  ever  know  them  com- 
mercially as  anything  but  marantas. 
There  are  many  species,  all  from  trop- 
ical America,  entirely  grown  for  their 
handsome  leaves.  They  have  creep- 
ing rhizomes  and  when  shaken  out  the 
roots  can  be  readily  divided.  June 
and  July  is  a  good  time  for  this  oper- 
ation. Some  of  the  smaller  growing 
species  make  beautiful  plants  for  table 
decoration  or  for  the  larger  ferneries, 
but  they  do  not  thrive  long  in  the  dry 
air  of  a  living  room.  It  is  as  fine  plants 
for  the  hot-house  that  they  are  chief- 
ly cultivated. 

The  essential  to  grow  a  fine  plant  is 
a  good  coarse  loam,  to  which  can  be 
added  a  fifth  of  well  decayed  manure, 
and  some  sand  to  keep  the  soil  open. 
As  when  growing  they  want  abun- 
dance of  water  and  syringing  there 
should  be  ample  drainage  to  let  water 
pass  freely  through.  In  a  shaded, 
sheltered  place  they  will  do  out  of 
doors,  but  are  far  better  suited  in  a 
shaded  houss  where  there  is  abun- 
dance of  moisture.  In  winter  they 
will  do  in  a  temperature  of  60  degrees, 
but  as  they  are  evergreen  they  must 
not  get  dry,  only  a  less  quantity  of 
water.  For  a  full  development  of  their 
velvety  leaves  the^  should  every  two 
or  three  years  be  shaken  out  and  di- 


vided or  their  roots  and  crowns  get 
very  crowded. 

There  are  so  many  species  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  single  out  any  of  them. 
All  are  handsome  and  there  is  a  range 
in  size  from  the  diminutive  M.  micans, 
with  glittering  leaves  two  to  three 
inches  long,  to  M.  zebrina,  with  leaves 
three  feet  long  and  eight  inches  broad. 
Every  gardener  will  remember  this  old 
species,  probably  one  of  the  first  intro- 
duced. Here  is  a  description  of  M. 
Veitchii,  from  Nicholson's  Dictionary 
of  Gardening: 

"Leaves  large,  ovate  elliptic,  over 
one  foot  long,  very  rich,  glossy  green, 
marked  along  each  side  the  mid-rib 
with  crescent-shaped  blotches  of  yel- 
low, softened  by  shades  of  green  and 
white;  under  surface  light  •  purple. 
Height  of  plant  three  feet.  Introduced 
in  1866  from  west  tropical  America. 
Probably  the  handsomest  of  the  ge- 
nus." 

But  there  are  any  number  of  other 
species  with  various  beautiful  mark- 
ings, and  none  difficult  to  grow  where 
heat,  moisture,  a  porous  soil  and 
shade  in  summer  can  be  given. 

MARTINEZIA. 

M.  caryotaefolia,  a  young  plant  of 
which  is  illustrated,  is  one  of  a  small 
family  of  rather  slender  growing 
South  American  palms,  the  species  in 
question  having  been  found  in  parts  of 
Peru 'and  also  New  Granada,  Though 


this  species  has  been  in  cultivation 
since  1845,  it  is  not  now  largely  grown, 
but  few  seeds  being  offered  in  the 
market.  .  . 

The  martinezia  also  possesses  a  dis- 
advantage in  being  so  abundantly  pro- 
vided with  long  and  sharp  spines,  not 
only  the  stems,  but  also  the  backs  of 
the  leaves  being  armed  with  these 
needlelike  protectors,  and  nearly  all 
plants  having  this  characteristic  re- 
ceive but  scanty  attention  from  the 
general  public,  and  especially  so  if  the 
price  is  held  above  the  average. 

Martinezia  caryotaefolia  may  be  de- 
scribed in  a  general  way  as  bearing 
some  resemblance  to  Caryota  urens, 
except  that  the  latter  is  without 
spines,  but  the  peculiarly  wedge- 
shaped  pinnae  of  the  martinezia  are 
arranged  in  irregular  groups  along  the 
leaf  stem,  there  being  frequently  from 
six  to  ten  inches  of  bare  stem  between 
these  groups  of  pinnae  on  a  large 
leaf.  The  general  color  of  the  leaves 
is  deep  green,  and  the  habit  of  .  the 
plant  very  graceful. 

This  palm  is  not  specially  subject  to 
the  attacks  of  insects,  but  if  scale  in- 
sects are  allowed  to  infest  it  they  are 
likely  to  fix  themselves  along  the 
stems  among  the  thorns,  where  it  is 
very  difficult  to  dislodge  them.  In  fact, 
with  any  of  the  very  spiny  palms  it 
becomes  a  severe  test  of  patience  to 
eradicate  scale,  and  the  use  of  strong- 
insecticides  can  hardly  be  recom- 
mended in  such  a  case,  an  experience 
with  kerosene  emulsion  some  years 
ago  on  both  martinezias  and  daemono- 
rops  having  proved  disastrous. 

Regarding  the  cultural  requirements 
of  martinezias  it  may  be  said  that  they 
belong  among  the  warm  house  palms, 
and  will  flourish  under  suitable  con- 
ditions for  Areca  lutescens,  that  is, 
temperature  of  65  to  70  degrees,  mod- 
erate shading  and  abundant  moisture. 

M.  caryotaefolia  is  said  to  bear  ex- 
posure very  well  as  a  plant  for  house 
decoration,  but  I  have  not  seen  it 
tested  for  such  use,  though  a  ,  good 
sized  plant  of  this  species  would  un- 
doubtedly be  a  very  effective  single 
specimen  to  be  placed  on  a  pedestal, 
where  its  spines  would  be  out  of  reach 
of  the  passer-by.  W.  H.  T. 

MAURANDYA. 

These  are  useful  to  us  for  summer 
climbers  and  thrive  in  our  hottest 
suns.  M.  Barclayana  is  best  sown  in 
early  March  in  a  heat  of  about  55  to 
60  degrees.  When  large  enough  to 
handle  pot  into  2-inch.  In  this  size 
they  are  large  enough  for  our  baskets, 
but  if  wanted  for  outside  climbing  can 
be  shifted  into  3-inch  and  must  have 
a  small  stake  or  they  get  sadly  tan- 
gled up.  They  make  a  very  quick 
growth  and  cover  quickly  a  small  trel- 
lis. The  flower  is  not  conspicuous, 
being  of  a  greenish  color,  about  two 
inches  long. 

M.  scandens,  often  called  Lopho- 
spermum  scandens,  is  a  larger  leaved, 
stronger  growing  climber,  and  one  of 
the  very  best  vines  for  our  vases.  The 
flowers  are  pinkish  violet,  This  can 


J44 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


be  raised  from  seed  precisely  as  we 
do  M.  Barclayana,  but  we  prefer  to 
take  a  few  cuttings  from  outside  plants 
in  the  fall  and  grow  on  during  win- 
ter. It  roots  easily  from  any  part  of 
the  growth  and  by  this  means  we  get 
much  more  serviceable  plants  for  use 
in  large  vases  and  veranda  boxes. 
They  winter  very  well  in  50  degrees, 
but  grow  faster,  when  you  want  to 
propagate,  in  60  degrees. 

METROSIDEROS    (BOTTLE   BRUSH 
PLANT). 

This  is  one  of  the  many  hard-wood- 
ed evergreen  shrubs  that  we  get  from 
the  Southern  Pacific  islands.  The  spe- 
cies we  import  is  M.  robusta,  and  its 
peculiar,  terminal,  densely  flowered 


tractive,  and  a  limited  number  find  a 
ready  sale. 

When  they  arrive  soak  the  ball  and 
then  pot  firmly  and  put  in  a  house  at 
about  45  degrees.  To  bring  them  in 
for  Easter  you  must  watch  them  and 
gradually  give  them  more  heat,  but 
not  suddenly.  Freshly  imported 
plants  if  forced  in  much  heat,  as  you 
can  an  azalea,  will  shed  their  flowers. 

Plants  unsold  the  first  spring  will 
be  much  better  and  more  satisfactory 
the  second  year.  End  of  April  cut 
them  back  to  within  an  inch  or  two 
of  the  old  growth  and  put  them  into 
a  good  heat  and  keep  syringed.  They 
will  make  a  bushy  growth  with  a  num- 
ber of  shoots.  Early  in  June  plunge 
them  out  in  the  broad  sun,  well  cov- 
ering their  pots,  and  in  the  hot  weath- 


Bottlc  Brush  (Metrosideros)  trimmed  with  crimson  ribbon,  in  celluloid  basket. 


spike  is  so  like  in  form  to  a  bottle 
brush  that  the  popular  name  is  often 
suggested  by  people  who  have  never 
heard  it.  It  has  been  for  many  years 
grown  as  a  cool  greenhouse  plant,  but 
only  within  a  dozen  years  have  the 
Europeans  been  sending  us  the  little, 
compact  bushes  that  now  arrive  with 
our  azaleas.  The  Belgians  grow  it  in 
peat  as  they  do  most  hard-wooded 
plants,  but  it  does  very  well  in  good 
turfy  loam  with  a  fourth  of  leaf-mold. 
It  will  root  from  the  young  growths 
in  early  spring,  which  can  be  planted 
out  in  good  soil  end  of  May.  But  with 
tariff  included  we  can  get  fine  plants 
landed  here  at  a  cost  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  grow  them  as  good  for 
the  same  money. 

You  don't  want  a  great  many  of 
them;>  about  one  to  every  ten  Azalea 
indica  you  grow.  Plants  in  6-inch 
pots,  well  flowered  and  fixed  up  with 
a  red  ribbon,  do  look  novel  and  at- 


er  don't  let  them  suffer  for  water.  In 
July  or  earlier  mulch  the  surface  of 
the  pots  with  an  inch  of  half  decom- 
posed cow  manure;  this  will  add 
greatly  to  their  robustness.  Bring  in 
before  any  danger  of  frost  and  keep 
in  a  temperature  of  45  degrees;  warm- 
er if  you  want  them  earlier  than  East- 
er. These  will  be  far  better  plants 
and  be  much  more  satisfactory  to  the 
purchaser  than  the  newly  imported. 

MIGNONETTE     (RESEDA 
ODORATA). 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  any  plant 
so  universally  known  or  better  liked 
than  the  mignonette. 

The  florist  sows  it  in  his  garden  as 
soon  as  the  ground  is  dry,  and  makes 
another  sowing  later,  in  shallow  drills 
in  deep,  rich  soil.  If  continuous  cut- 
ting is  expected  the  plants  should  be 
thinned  out  to  a  few  inches  apart  and 
watered  in  dry  weather. 


As  a  cut  flower  in  winter  it  is  a 
staple  article  and  for  that  purpose  is 
grown,  good,  bad  and  indifferent.  To 
obtain  fine  spikes  that  sell  by  the 
dozen  or  hundred  it  must  have  a  suit- 
able place  and  room  to  grow. 

A  solid  bed  in  a  light  house  would 
without  doubt  be  the  best  place,  but 
it  can  be  grown  on  a  bench  in  five  or 
six  inches  of  soil,  very  well.  The  soil 
should  be  a  heavy  loam  with  a  fourth 
of  rotten  cow  manure.  A  bench  where 
the  heat  of  the  pipes  would  be  felt 
would  not  be  good  as  the  roots  like  a 
cool  bottom. 

Sow  early  in  August.  We  put  a  few 
seeds  in  a  spot,  about  one  foot  apart, 
and  when  an  inch  high  thin  out  to  the 
strongest  plant.  When  a  few  inches 
high  they  will  branch  from  the  bot- 
tom and  four  or  five  of  the  strongest 
side  shoots  can  be  selected;  after  that 
keep  lateral  growths  off  both  the  main 
spike  and  the  side  growths.  If  grown 
cool  it  will  not  want  any  staking,  but 
if  it  should  it  is  easily  done,  as  one 
small  stake  would  support  several 
spikes. 

This  mignonette,  whether  grown  for 
cutting  or  for  pots,  must  have  the 
fullest  possible  light  and  air  on  all 
permissible  occasions.  Light  and  air 
and  a  cool  temperature  will  just  make 
the  difference  between  stout,  heavy 
spikes  and  thin,  spindling  ones.  You 
ought  to  get  a  good  cutting  at  the 
holidays  and  another  at  Easter.  In 
fact  after  Christmas  you  can  always 
cut  good  spikes.  The  night  tempera- 
ture should  never  be  over  50  degrees, 
and  I  should  prefer  it  when  heavy  fir- 
ing is  going  on  to  be  only  45  degrees. 

There  are  few  plants  that  will  fill 
the  bill  more  acceptably  for  an  inex- 
pensive Easter  gift  than  a  well  grown 
mignonette.  A  4-inch  pot  will  grow 
a  nice  plant,  but  a  5-inch  is  much  bet- 
ter. For  this  purpose  sow  not  later 
than  end  of  August.  Sow  in  the  same 
pots  that  they  are  to  be  sold  in.  I 
have  been  quite  successful  shifting 
them  from  a  small  pot,  and  also  un- 
successful. The  former  is  much  the 
safest  plan. 

Put  a  crock  and  a  piece  of  green 
moss  in  the  bottom  of  the  pot  and  fill 
up  solidly  with  good,  fresh  loam  with 
a  fourth  of  cow  manure;  make  the 
soil  quite  solid.  Sow  a  number  of 
seeds  on  the  surface  and  cover  light- 
ly. When  well  up  thin  out  to  three 
strong  plants  equal  distances  apart. 
We  pinch  the  leading  shoot  out  of 
these  plants,  which  will  give  you  nine 
or  ten  nice  spikes,  which  is  better 
than  three  or  four  large  ones.  Keep 
them  in  just  such  a  house  as  you  do 
those  growing  for  cutting  and  if  any 
preference  keep  in  the  coolest  end. 

If  showing  flower  too  soon  stop 
them,  but  they  should  not  be  pinched 
for  twelve  weeks  before  you  want  to 
sell  them.  A  neat  stake  would  be 
needed  for  these  pots,  and  perhaps 
three  small  stakes  is  better,  just  to 
hold  the  branches  from  breaking. 
Don't  attempt  to  grow  mignonette  in 
a  dark,  ill  ventilated  house;  you  will 
only  get  weak,  spindling  stuff.  Like 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Bench  of  Mignonette. 


many  other  plants  the  more  perfect 
the  light  and  the  more  you  can  give 
air  the  less  you  will  hurt  with  a  high- 
er temperature. 

Mignonette  does  not  like  transplant- 
ing; that  is  why  they  are  sown  on 
the  bench  where  they  are  to  grow,  and 
in  pots  in  which  they  are  to  flower. 

Simple  as  this  plant  is  to  sow  out- 
side as  a  hardy  annual,  we  always  sell 
a  good  many  plants  with  other  sum- 
mer flowering  plants.  For  this  pur- 
pose we  sow  a  number  of  seeds  in  3- 
inch  pots  on  some  light  bench  in  early 
March.  Later  we  thin  out  to  three  or 
four  of  the  strongest  and  in  April 
plunge  them  in  a  mild  hot-bed,  where 
by  middle  of  May  they  are  strong, 
thrifty  plants. 

When  the  mignonette  plants  are 
quite  small  you  must  watch  out  for 
slugs  and  wood-lice,  both  of  which 
relish  them  as  fine  salad.  If  you  see 
the  small  yellow  butterfly  in  your 
mignonette  house  in  August  or  Sep- 
tember get  your  double-barreled,  ham- 
merless  Parker  shotgun,  or  your  hat, 
and  annihilate  him,  or  rather  her.  She 
flits  over  the  plants  depositing  a  small 
green  egg,  which  quickly  evolves  into 
the  green  worm,  the  cabbage  worm, 
which  will,  if  unmolested,  soon  chew 
up  your  young  mignonette. 

I  have  never  noticed  that  tobacco 
smoke  did  any  harm  to  the  mignon- 
ette, nor  does  it  need  it  much.  If  it 
gets  over  the  slugs,  wood-lice  and 
worms  there  is  no  trouble  ahead. 

You  ought  to  select  the  finest  spikes 
and  save  your  own  seed.  The  strain 
we  grow  was  obtained  from  Mr.  John 
N.  May  some  years  ago,  and  by  selec- 
tion it  is  better  than  when  first  ob- 
tained. But  mignonette  is  very  like 
asparagus;  it  is  the  growing  and  rich, 
heavy  soil  that  makes  the  giant  or 
colossal  qualities;  any  of  the  strains 
are  good  when  well  grown.  Besides 
new  advertised  strains,  some  standard 


ones  are:  Bird's  Mammoth,  Miles'  Hy- 
brid Spiral,  Machet,  Golden  Queen  and 
Machet's  Perfection. 

MIMULUS. 

As  a  boy  we  thought  there  were  very 
few  plants  so  beautiful  as  M.  luteus 
(Monkey  Flower).  We  don't  think  so 
now,  but  its  yellow  and  spotted  flower 
is  very  attractive.  Our  hot  summers 
do  not  suit  it  planted  out.  It  is  often 
treated  as  an  annual  and  can  be  raised 
from  seed  sown  in  early  spring.  Or  it 
can  be  kept  over  winter  and  propa- 
gated by  cuttings.  In  a  shaded,  moist 
place  it  will  do  well  planted  out,  and 
in  a  liberal  sized  pot  in  a  cool  house  it 
would  thrive,  and  when  well  grown  its 
showy  flowers  will  sell  it. 

M.  moschatus  is  the  common  musk 
plant,  which  in  some  cities  is  a  great 
market  plant,  but  in  many  of  our  cities 
is  scarcely  ever  seen.  It  also  likes  to 
be  away  from  the  hot  sun.  Good  light 
soil  and  partial  shade  and  moisture 
suit  it  well.  It  can  be  raised  from 
seed,  which  is  very  small  and  needs  no 
covering,  but  it  is  a  perennial,  and  if 
you  have  a  few  plants  carried  over 
winter  as  dormant  roots  you  can 
shake  them  out  in  early  March  and 
start  growing  in  a  warm  greenhouse. 
As  they  grow  small  pieces  can  be 
taken  and  two  or  three  of  them  put 
round  the  edge  of  a  three  or  four-inch 
pot,  which  they  will  soon  cover  with 
their  fast  creeping  growth.  In  this 
way  you  can  rapidly  make  any  number 
of  salable  pots.  They  never  want  the 
cutting  bed. 

MOON  FLOWER    (IPOMOEA  BONA 
NOX  OR  NOCTIFLORA). 

This  is  one  of  the  many  evergreen 
ipomaeas  that  make  us  a  splendid 
summer  climber.  We  have  seen  pic- 
tures of  windmills  in  Georgia  where 


the  moon  flower  had  grown  to  a  height 
of  75  feet.  There  are  many  of  these 
ipomaeas  that  make  fine  climbers  for 
the  conservatory  and  hothouse,  and 
doubtless  could  be  used  out  of  doors  in 
our  summers,  but  the  moon  flower  is 
known  by  all. 

There  is  the  grandiflora  type  of 
moon  flower  with  blossoms  six  to 
seven  inches  across,  and  an  improved 
kind  with  small  flowers,  but  flowering 
earlier  in  the  summer.  They  should 
not  be  planted  out  till  danger  of  frost 
is  past,  but  as  they  are  always  against 
a  fence  or  trellis  can  be  easily  pro- 
tected from  late  frosts. 

They  are  easily  raised  from  seed 
sown  in  the  greenhouse  in  March,  but 
a  few  cuttings  can  be  taken  from  the 
small  side  shoots  in  September,  which 
root  readily.  When  rooted  don't  try 
to  grow  them  fast  till  early  spring, 
when  with  more  heat  they  will  quick- 
ly grow  and  can  be  increased  by  cut- 
tings. 

There  is  nothing  that  surpasses  the 
moon  flower  for  rapidity  of  growth. 
It  makes  a  perfectly  dense  screen,  and 
in  the  evening  and  until  10  or  11 
o'clock  in  the  morning  is  studded  with 
its  noble  flowers. 

MULCHING. 

This  garden  term  may  be  new  to 
some  beginners,  but  it  represents 
some  very  important  operations  in  our 
business. 

In  plants  in  pots  it  means  with 
those  plunged  outside  in  summer, 
such  as  azaleas,  acacias,  hardy  roses, 
etc.,  that  an  inch  or  less  of  manure 
and  soil,  or  all  manure,  is  put  on  the 
surface  of  the  pot.  Sometimes  chem- 
ical fertilizers  are  added  to  the  com-  . 
post.  Its  purpose  is  two-fold.  It  feeds 
the  roots  and  encourages  them  to 
come  to  the  surface,  which  they  do, 
feeding  on  the  mulch  which  is  ap- 
plied, and  it  prevents  the  hot  sun  from 
parching  the  soil,  which  necessitates 
such  frequent  watering.  The  good  ef- 
fects of  an  inch  of  cow  manure  ap- 
plied to  azaleas  this  past  July 
plunged  in  the  broad  sun  have  been 
most  marked.  It  is  sometimes  done 
inside,  where  plants  cannot  be  shifted, 
but  when  the  roots  need  more  nour- 
ishment. 

On  plants  in  beds,  such  as  roses  and 
carnations,  it  is  a  most  important  op- 
eration. The  soil  is  shallow  and  the 
application  of  half  an  inch  of  manure 
or  a  rich  compost  containing  bone  dust 
or  sheep  manure  is  the  greatest  help 
to  them.  And  in  spring  the  mulching 
on  our  beds  has  the  same  effect  as 
that  on  the  pots  in  summer;  it  pre- 
vents evaporation. 

Not  so  much  to  encourage  growth  as 
to  save  the  lives  of  trees  and  shrubs 
that  are  recently  planted,  mulching  is 
of  the  greatest  benefit  to  all  trees  and 
shrubs  that  are  planted  the  previous 
fall  or  present  spring.  It  has  saved 
the  lives  of  millions  of  young  trees. 
In  dry  weather  a  freshly  planted  tree 
needs  water,  however  scientifically  you 
have  planted  it,  and  to  water  on  the 


J46 


FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


surface  tends  only  to  aggravate  its 
condition,  as  the  ground  soon  becomes 
parched.  By  laying  two  or  three 
inches  of  stable  litter  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground  for  a  distance  extending 
farther  than  the  roots  of  the  tree  you 
will  prevent  .  evaporation  from  the 
ground.  It  will  keep  the  ground  cool 
and  moist,  and  when  you  do  water  no 
baking  of  the  ground  will  ensue;  the 
tree  or  shrub  will  get  the  benefit  of 
the  watering  for  many  days.  This 
mulching  of  newly-planted  trees  is  of 
the  utmost  importance.  Many  a  young 
tree,  evergreen  or  deciduous,  shrubs 
and  fruit  trees,  all  alike,  are  saved 
from  death  by  the  simple  and  inex- 
pensive operation  of  mulching. 

It  is  also  the  only  way  we  can  fer- 
tilize our  hardy  herbaceous  plants.  An 
inch  or  two  of  manure  laid  between 
the  rows  in  early  spring  prevents  dry- 
ing out,  feeds  the  roots,  and  can, 
later  in  the  fall,  be  lightly  cultivated 
into  the  soil. 

MUSA. 

The  banana  plant  is  of  the  easiest 
possible  culture;  a  rough,  rich  loam, 
an  abundance  of  water,  heat  and  room 
to  grow,  are  all  that  is  required.  Occa- 
sionally we  see  a  bunch  of  M.  Caven- 
dishii  in  our  northern  hot-houses,  and 
if  I  had  the  chance  of  some  million- 
aires I  would  raise  my  own  bananas. 
That  would  be  as  reasonable  as  Levi 
P.  Morton  producing  his  own  cream, 
which  costs  him  the  same  price  as  his 
champagne. 

To  those  who  have  only  tasted  the 
bananas  picked  green  in  the  West  In- 
dies and  ripened  in  the  hold  of  a  ves- 
sel or  heated  warehouse  and  finished 
off  in  the  sleeping  apartment  of  Giu- 
seppe Garibaldi,  the  fresh  yellow  fruit 
ripened  on  the  plant  is  as  Mr.  Mor- 
ton's Jersey  cream  to  a  very  thin 
sample  of  skim  milk.  You  are  not, 
however,  likely  to  embark  in  the  ba- 
nana industry,  and  as  our  government 
will  soon  own  a  large  part  of  the  world 
suitable  to  their  culture  we  will  leave 
that  to  the  new  office  which  will  be 
known  as  "Secretary  of  the  Tropical 
Fruit  and  Tattooing  Department." 

Musa  ensete,  from  Abyssinia,  and 
M.  superba,  from  the  East  Indies, 
make  very  ornamental  plants  for  the 
sub-tropical  garden  and  for  specimens 
on  the  lawn.  You  can  raise  them  from 
seed,  or  buy  young  plants  at  a  very 
low  cost.  They  should  always  be 
planted  out  where  a  good,  fast  growth 
is  wanted. 

Though  a  tropical  plant  you  can 
store  them  during  winter  in  a  cool 
house  with  little  water,  or  they  can 
be  lifted,  the  ground  shaken  off  the 
roots  and  laid  under  a  bench,  or  they 
will  keep  in  a  root-house  or  cellar 
when  not  below  40  degrees,  but  50  de- 
grees is  better. 

In  sheltered  places  they  make  fine 
specimens  on  a  lawn  with  their  broad, 
tropical  leaves,  especially  M.  ensete, 
but  in  windy  places  their  leaves  rip 
and  tear,  giving  the  plant  a  very  rag- 
ged appearance. 


MYOSOTIS. 

We  are  always  asked  for  some 
plants  of  these  in  early  spring.  They 
do  not  last  long  in  our  hot,  dry  sum- 
mers. M.  alpestris  makes  a  compact 
little  tuft,  full  of  flowers  in  the 
spring. 

You  can  sow  the  seed  in  August  and 
plant  in  cold-frames,  where  they  will 
winter  all  right,  but  if  you  have  any 
stock  it  can  be  divided  quite  easily 
and  planted  in  cold-frame  in  Septem- 
ber, a  few  inches  apart. 

For  years  we  grew  a  very  useful 
species  of  myosotis  for  cutting  in  win- 
ter. It  was  planted  in  fall  along  the 
edge  of  the  carnation  benches,  and 
as  it  grew  entirely  outwards  and  hung 
over  the  sides  of  the  bench  it  did  no 
harm  to  the  carnations  except  what 
strength  it  took  from  the  soil,  and 
that  we  could  afford.  We  propagated 
a  few  dozen  by  cuttings  in  late  spring, 


bon  borders,  but  are  more  valuable  as 
a  vase  plant,  for  which  their  graceful 
but  free  growth  and  free  flowering 
qualities  are  well  adapted.  They  can- 
not be  called  a  drooping  plant,  yet 
their  slender  but  wiry  growths  have 
a  fine  effect  in  the  edge  of  a  vase  or 
veranda  box. 

Any  good  loam  will  grow  them.  Lift 
a  few  plants  in  fall  and  cut  back  hard, 
and  keep  in  a  cool,  light  house.  In 
January  start  with  a  little  heat  and 
you  will  get  plenty  of  cuttings.  Or 
if  you  prefer,  take  off  some  cuttings 
in  the  fall,  but  they  don't  root  freely 
unless  the  cuttings  are  of  recent 
growth. 

NEPENTHES. 

These  remarkable  plants  are  little 
handled  by  the  commercial  florist,  but 
are  so  striking  and  curious  that  all  are 
interested  in  a  knowledge  of  them. 


Nepenthes. 


kept  them  in  3-inch  pots  during  sum- 
mer, and  after  the  carnations  were 
planted  we  put  in  a  plant  of  myosotis, 
not  too  thickly,  one  about  every  three 
feet.  From  them  we  picked  sprays  of 
their  beautiful  flowers  all  winter.  I 
am  not  positive,  but  the  species  was, 
I  feel  sure,  M.  azorica.  M.  dissitiflora 
has  large,  deep  blue  flowers,  fine  for 
borders,  but  not  as  good  for  cutting 
as  azorica. 

NASTURTIUM. 
See  Tropaeolum. 

NIEREMBERGIA. 

The  species  of  most  use  to  the  florist 
is  gracilis,  which  has  slender  growth 
with  pretty  white  and  light  purple 
flowers.  They  were  formerly  used 
sometimes  for  flower  beds  or  long  rib- 


They  are  an  important  genus  in  that 
family  of  plants  which  are  now  known 
as  insectivorous  and  to  which  the 
great  Darwin  devoted  a  volume  as  the 
result  of  his  marvelous  research.  The 
Dionaea  muscipula  (Venus'  fly  trap), 
from  Carolina,  is  the  most  familiar  of 
the  insectivorous  plants.  Others  are 
its  close  relation,  the  drosera,  of  our 
northern  swamps,  and  again  the  fa- 
miliar sarracenia. 

The  nepenthes,  are  called  "Pitcher 
plants,"  because  the  extension  of  the 
leaf  terminates  in  the  perfect  form  of 
a  pitcher,  lid  and  all.  If  they  were 
not  called  pitcher  plants  they  would 
remind  you  much  of  the  large  Ger- 
man pipes,  five  or  six  inches  in  the 
bowl,  which  usually  have  a  cover. 
What  part  the  pitcher  bears  to  the 
economy  of  the  plant  is  not  fully  de- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J47 


termined,  but  the  fluid  held  in  the 
pitcher  contains  bacteria  which  is  ca- 
pable of  digesting  nitrogenous  mat- 
ter. If  an  insect,  a  fly  or  bee  once 
explores  the  depths  of  the  pitcher  he 
is  gone.  They  are  incapable  of  climb- 
ing up  by  the  interior  walls  of  the 
pitchers  and  are  finally  drowned,  to 
their  discomfiture,  but  probably  to  the 
benefit  of  the  plant,  hence  they  are 
called  insectivorous,  or  insect-eating 
plants. 

They  are  nearly  all  the  most  trop- 
ical of  tropical  plants,  found  in  Bor- 
neo, Madagascar,  Ceylon  and  pretty 
close  to  the  equator.  The  pitchers 
hang  on  for  months  in  perfect  condi- 
tion if  not  accidentally  or  purposely 
emptied  of  their  fluid,  which  they 
never  should  be,  or  they  will  shrivel 
up. 

Although  plants  requiring  a  very 
high  temperature  they  are  not  at  all 
difficult  to  grow  providing  you  have 
heat  and  moisture.  I  have  enumer- 
ated several  of  the  finest  and  best 
known,  but  there  are  many  hybrids  of 
great  beauty. 

Propagation.  They  are  not  difficult 
to  propagate  by  cuttings,  which  should 
be  three  or  four  eyes  of  the  tip  of  a 
shoot,  placed  in  sand  and  kept  moist. 
The  cuttings  should  be  in  a  propagat- 
ing case  in  a  warm  house  and  the  sand 
should  be  10  to  15  degrees  warmer 
than  the  house,  or  about  80  to  85  de- 
grees. May  and  June  are  good  months 
to  propagate  and  the  cuttings  will 
root  in  three  or  four  weeks. 

Rooted  plants  should  be  grown  in 
hanging  wooden  baskets.  Shade  in 
the  summer  is  necessary.  Our  sum- 
mer nights  are  often  too  cool  to  do 
the  nepenthes  well  and  a  gentle  fire 
heat  is  essential  the  year  round.  The 
lowest  night  temperature  in  winter 
should  not  be  less  than  70  degrees. 
The  baskets  should  be  filled  one-third 
their  depth  with  clean  crocks  and 
then  the  roots  of  the  nepenthes  should 
be  filled  in  with  equal  parts  of  fern 
roots  and  good  sphagnum  moss,  round- 
ing up  the  surface  of  the  basket  with 
good  live  sphagnum. 

The  daily  spraying  will  be  sufficient 
without  water,  and  in  summer  spray 
them  twice  a  day.  What  they  want  is 
an  atmosphere  fairly  reeking  with 
moisture.  The  more  moist  your  at- 
mosphere the  more  your  pitcher 
plants  will  thrive. 

The  following  all  have  grand  pitch- 
ers: N.  Dominiana,  Mastersiana,  Mor- 
ganiae,  Rafflesiana,  Veitchii,  Wil- 
liamsii,  madagascariensis.  As  the 
names  of  the  above  will  denote,  some 
of  them  are  garden  hybrids. 

The  lamented  Mr.  Court,  who  repre- 
sented Messrs.  Veitch,  of  London,  and 
who  made  many  trips  to  this  country, 
was  an  enthusiast  on  these  curious 
plants,  and  whoever  saw  the  collec- 
tion of  nepenthes  at  Chelsea,  as  the 
writer  did  in  1885,  could  not  fail  to 
see  that  this  wonderful  collection  of 
grotesque  exotics  were  perfectly  at 
home.  One  of  the  handsomest  hybrids 
raised  by  Mr.  Court  bears  his  name. 
The  pitchers  on  some  of  the  largest 


Otaheite  Orange,  in  gilt  basket,  tied  with  ribbon. 


are  eight  inches  long  by  three  inches 
in  width. 

OLEANDER  (NERIUM). 

There  is  a  marked  inclination 
among  our  patrons  the  past  year  or 
two  to  decorate  their  grounds,  par- 
ticularly where  the  grounds  are  con- 
fined to  a  city  lot,  with  palms,  sweet 
bays,  tubs  of  hydrangeas  and  other 
plants,  and  the  well  known  oleander 
may  yet  come  into  favor;  in  fact,  we 
have  of  late  had  calls  for  large  plants 
of  it. 

Our  acquaintance  with  this  fine 
shrub  is  too  often  an  unpleasant  one. 
Some  worthy  matron  may  possess  an 
oleander  too  large  for  her  window,  and 
she  enquires  how  much  we  will  charge 
to  store  it  for  the  winter.  You  are 
bound  to  charge  about  as  much  as  the 
plant  is  worth,  so  the  deal  is  off.  Still, 
where  you  have  a  house  entirely  de- 


voted to  the  care  of  such  winter 
boarders,  you  must  take  the  oleander 
as  well  as  other  plants,  only  be  sure 
you  get  enough  for  your  space  and  la- 
bor. It  is  no  more  reasonable  that  we 
should  take  in  a  palm  or  sweet  bay  or 
an  oleander  for  little  recompense  than 
that  a  livery  stable  should  board  a 
horse  all  winter  for  little  or  nothing. 

With  all  their  familiarity,  oleanders 
are  beautiful  shrubs.  We  all  hear  so 
often  about  the  hedges  of  them  in 
Bermuda.  In  the  cooler  parts  of  Eu- 
rope they  are  almost  entirely  a  green- 
house plant.  With  us  they  are  chiefly 
used  for  summer  decoration  outside, 
and  our  warm,  bright  summer  suits 
them  finely  if  well  supplied  with 
water. 

They  root  easily  from  young  growths 
in  spring,  and  with  occasional  pinch- 
ing and  shifting  on  as  required  soon 
make  large  plants.  It  is  with  the  care 


J48 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


of  large  plants  that  we  are  most  con- 
cerned, and  to  obtain  a  fine  lot  of 
flowers  in  the  summer,  and  I  might 
just  mention  that  this  summer  of  1899 
the  oleanders  have  been  unusually  fine. 

The  flower  comes  on  the  matured 
wood  of  the  spring  growth  or  previous 
fall,  so  the  ideal  treatment  would  be 
to  store  them  in  October,  after  flower- 
ing, in  a  very  cool  house,  or  a  light 
shed  will  do,  but  no  frost  must  touch 
them.  In  early  April  prune  back  the 
growths  that  have  borne  flowers,  and 
with  more  heat  and  more  water  en- 
courage them  to  make  their  growth, 
which  by  June  will  be  fairly  matured, 
and  they  will  then  soon  flower.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  months  they  will  do 
with  very  little  water  unless  kept  in 
a  warm  greenhouse,  when,  naturally, 
they  want  more. 

The  correct  name  of  our  common 
oleander  is  Nerium  Oleander,  and  sev- 
eral handsome  varieties  exist:  Album 
plenum,  double  white;  Henri  Mares, 
pink,  double;  Madonna  grandiflorum, 
creamy  white,  large  and  double;  Pro- 
fessor Durand,  pale  yellow,  free;  Rose 
Double,  bright  rose;  splendens,  bright 
red,  double  and  several  others. 

The  oleander  is  pestered  with  mealy 
bug,  and  much  more  by  a  white  scale. 
There  is  no  excuse  for  the  bug  on  a 
plant  that  will  enjoy  the  hose  as  does 
the  oleander.  When  you  see  the  signs 
of  scale,  sponge  the  whole  plant  with 
kerosense  emulsion. 

ORANGE. 

The  writer's  first  experience  in  gar- 
dening, or  that  for  which  there  was 
any  pay,  was  in  an  old  fashioned  con- 
servatory in  the  curious  roof  of  which 
there  was  enough  lead  to  make  "sink- 
ers" for  all  the  fishermen  of  the  great 
lakes.  It  was  very  dark  at  all  times, 
and  more  than  one  winter  can  I  re- 
member that  the  old  heating  flues 
which  ran  beneath  the  white  and  spot- 
less paths  were  never  lighted.  Such  is, 
or  was,  the  climate  of  the  south  coast 
of  England.  The  frost  never  entered 
this  house,  for  a  venerable  heliotrope 
grew  against  the  south  wall,a  beautiful 
plant  of  Acacia  pubescens  flourished 
at  the  east  end,  a  Phormium  tenax 
grew  strong  and  bushy  in  the  north- 
east corner,  close  by  a  veteran  Fuchsia 
fulgens;  opposite  them  were  two 
bushes  of  the  tea  tree,  and  not  far  off 
a  beautiful  tree  of  the  Norfolk  Island 
pine  (Araucaria  excelsa)  that  had  to  be 
sunk  in  the  border  to  keep  its  top  from 
the  roof,  and  there  were  huge  camellia 
trees  that  bore  thousands  of  blossoms, 
the  single  red  a  more  beautiful  tree 
than  any  of  them. 

But  the  chief  feature  of  this  old 
house,  that  was  torn  down  about  forty 
years  ago,  was  the  large  orange  trees 
which  were  planted  out  in  the  borders. 
There  were  flowers  or  oranges  in  some 
degree  of  ripeness  all  the  year  round, 
and  there  were  several  varieties.  Per- 
haps it  was  the  cool,  dark  house  that 
was  accountable  for  the  flavor  and 
texture  of  these  oranges,  for  I  must 
say  that  inferior  as  most  tropical  fruit 
is  when  picked  green  and  sent  to  us, 


that  the  oranges  we  bought  in  the 
shops  were  much  superior  to  those  that 
ripened  on  those  old  trees.  Quantity 
there  was  by  the  bushel,  but  the  qual- 
ity was  not  tempting,  and  the  writer 
was  at  that  age  when  anything  good 
to  eat  was  tempting.  An  accidental  (?) 
shake  of  a  tree  would  always  bring 
a  few  of  the  big  yellow  fellows  to  the 
ground,  but  they  suffered  less  from  the 
omnivorous  appetite  of  a  15-year-old 
than  the  peaches  and  nectarines  in  the 
same  garden.  Yet  we  hear  travelers 
and  residents  of  our  orange-growing 
states  declare  that  the  ripe  fruit, 
freshly  picked,  is  far  superior  to  those 
picked  prematurely  and  sent  to  our 
northern  markets.  This  little  diver- 
sion on  oranges  is  not  what  we  are 
after,  and  we  must  cease. 

Small  dwarf  oranges  in  pots  have 
besn  grown  for  several  years  past,  and 
are  now  seen  in  all  the  florists'  stores 
at  Christmas.  A  plant  in  an  eight- 
inch  pot  and  two  feet  high,  well  cov- 
ered with  fruit,  is  very  attractive, 
and  many  people  want  one.  We  have 
not  found  them  to  hold  their  foliage 
as  could  be  wished  in  a  parlor  or  sit- 
ting-room, but  the  golden  fruit  hangs 
on.  It  is  surprising  to  how  many  peo- 
ple the  orange  tree  is  yet  a  stranger. 
The  majority  of  our  people  don't 
know  whether  they  grow  like  a  musk- 
melon  or  a  chestnut. 

The  varieties  of  the  orange  are  said 
to  be  almost  as  numerous  as  those  of 
the  apple,  and  the  large,  fine  flavored 
kinds,  such  as  the  Navel,  would  not  be 
precocious  and  free  fruiting  enough 
to  make  very  small  specimens  in  pots 
bearing  two  or  three  dozen  fruits.  The 
variety  or  species  grown  for  this  pur- 
pose is,  I  believe,  the  Otaheite,  which 
flowers  and  fruits  very  young.  As 


might  be  expected,  the  fruit  is  small, 
but  none  the  less  ornamental  on  that 
account. 

You  had  much  better  leave  the  grow- 
ing of  the  plant  to  a  specialist,  who 
will  or  can  supply  you  with  small 
plants  in  pots  and  with  fruit  about 
ready  to  color  or  colored,  from  one 
foot  to  thirty  inches  high,  and  per- 
haps larger.  I  shall  merely  attempt  to 
tell  you  how  to  produce  another  crop 
of  fruit  for  the  following  winter  on 
any  that  you  may  happen  to  have  left 
over. 

You  can  keep  them  anywhere  in  a 
cool  house  till  the  first  of  March,  then 
cut  them  back  a  few  inches  and  put 
into  more  heat.  Keep  them  syringed 
and  in  the  full  light.  They  will  soon 
make  a  good  growth  and  in  May  will 
flower.  Give  air  without  a  cold  draft, 
and  be  careful  not  to  let  their  hand- 
some leaves  burn.  The  fruit  will  soon 
set,  and  from  that  on  they  want  a 
light,  airy  house,  plenty  of  water  and 
only  shade  enough  to  keep  the  leaves 
from  burning.  In  September  or  Oc- 
tober the  fruit  will  begin  to  color,  and 
from  that  on  they  can  be  kept  in  a 
temperature  of  50  to  55  degrees. 

The  greatest  enemy  to  oranges  is 
the  white  scale,  and  when  plants  are 
badly  infested  with  it,  especially  little 
plants,  it  is  as  well  to  destroy  them, 
scale  and  all.  If  a  larger  plant  in  a 
tub  that  you  value,  cut  it  back  in  the 
spring  and  give  the  bark  two  or  three 
spongings  with  kerosene  emulsion. 

Large  oranges  in  tubs  are  used 
largely  in  some  parts  of  Europe  for 
ornamental  gardening.  We  have  not 
yet  reached  that,  and  I  trust  never 
will,  for  a  large  orange  tree  in  a  tub 
is  a  kind  of  white  elephant  to  all  con- 
cerned. 


Calanthe  Vettchii, 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


149 


ORCHIDS. 

There  is  no  class  of  plants  at  which 
the  great  majority  of  our  commercial 
men  look  with  greater  apprehension 
than  the  orchids.  To  grow  them  suc- 
cessfully is  something  they  may  dream 
of  but  never  achieve,  so  they  think; 
but,  fortunately,  much  of  this  mystery 
regarding  their  culture  is  rapidly  pass- 
ing away.  Special  houses  are  no  longer 
deemed  essential  for  the  successful 
cultivation  of  orchids.  It  would  be 
rash  to  say  that  orchids  are  among 
the  easiest  of  plants  to  grow,  because 
there  is  a  wide  difference  between 
keeping  them  alive  only  and  growing 
them  to  perfection,  or  as  near  perfec- 
tion as  we  can  with  our  artificial  con- 
ditions. Yet  it  is  the  truth  to  say  that 
no  plant  we  grow  will  stand  as  much 
abuse  or  is  more  difficult  to  kill,  pro- 
viding the  neglect  is  not  too  prolonged. 
A  commercial  firm  whom  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  thoroughly  under- 
stand the  most  enlightened  culture  of 
orchids  have  adopted  in  their  practice 
what  may  be  called  the  board  system 
of  cultivation.  For  those  growing  large 
quantities  for  the  cut  blooms,  the  plan 
is  doubtless  admirable,  and  does  not 


Cattleya  Labiata. 

conflict  with  any  cultural  directions 
that  will  follow. 

In  these  introductory  remarks  a  few 
words  on  the  popularity  and  probable 
future  popularity  and  profitableness  of 
orchids  will  not  be  out  of  place.  It  is 
true  that  ten  years  ago,  through  the 
efforts  of  one  American  firm,  there 
were  many  small  collections  dissemi- 
nated throughout  the  country,  and 
many  of  them  were  not  the  easiest 
species  to  grow,  or  even  good  commer- 
cial kinds.  Disappointment  occurred 
in  hundreds  of  cases,  and  for  several 
years  you  have  heard  less  said  of  or- 
chids, at  any  rate,  less  favorable  men- 
tion. But  another  change  is  about  us. 
Many  of  our  enterprising  commercial 
men  realize  that  orchid  flowers  are 
going  to  be  in  demand,  whether  they 
grow  them  or  not,  and  many  of  them 
are  going  into  orchids  in  a  business- 
like way,  and  giving  them  a  portion  of 
their  skill  and  ability,  as  they  have  for 
years  given  the  rose,  the  carnation,  or 
the  violet.  And  to  keep  pace  with  this 
we  now  have  firms,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  ready  to  supply  us  at  moderate 
cost  with  the  most  desirable  and  valu- 
able commercial  species  and  varieties. 

The    writer    cannot    conceive    that 


there  can  be  a  doubt  of  the  ever  in- 
creasing admiration  and  fondness  for 
these  flowers,  so  beautiful,  both  in 
form  and  color,  and  so  long  lasting. 
Admiration  they  receive  now  by  all, 
but  there  is  neither  supply  nor  demand 
as  yet  for  the  orchids  to  amount  to 
much  in  the  aggregate  of  our  flower 
sales  for  the  year.  I  am  far  from 
wishing  to  see- the  profit,  or  even  lib- 
eral profit,  of  the  present  few  orchid 
growers  cut  down,  and  believe  that 
when  the  price  of  a  cattleya  flower  is 
more  in  sympathy  with  the  pocket  of 
the  average  flower  buyer  the  demand 
will  so  enormously  increase  that  the 
immense  quantities  which  will  in  a 
few  years  be  sold  will  be  a  far  better 
business  than  the  relatively  few  high- 
priced  flowers  sold  today.  If  any  peo- 
ple under  the  sun  like  and  crave  for 
"a  change,"  it  is  our  own;  flowers  are 
no  exception,  and  what  a  delightful 
change  from  the  morning,  noon  and 
night  everlasting  Bridesmaid  rose  is  a 
bunch  of  cattleyas  or  many  other  gor- 
geous orchids.  In  Covent  Garden,  the 
great  flower  market  of  London,  there 
are  possibly  as  many  orchids  sold  as 
rosebuds;  but  that  is  not  difficult  to 
understand;  their  orchids  are  grand 


150 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


in  quality  and  moderate  in  price,  while 
their  rosebuds  are  rubbish. 

The  genera  of  which  cultural  direc- 
tions follow  embrace  all  the  orchids 
that  are  desirable  or  essential  for  the 
commercial  man  to  handle.  All  can  be 
grown  easily  and  profitably,  and  the 
different  genera,  species  and  occasion- 
ally a  variety,  cover  the  entire  season, 
giving  you  every  form,  color  and  shad- 
ing of  this  gorgeous  family,  which 
may  be  called  the  birds  of  paradise  of 
!•  iora's  Kingdom.  The  student  or  spe- 
cialist in  orchids  -wishing  to  learn  of 
every  known  species  and  variety 
should  obtain  the  volume  on  orchids 


written  some  years   ago  by   Benj.   S. 
Williams,  London,  Eng. 

The  "peat"  so  often  mentioned  in  the 
following  directions  is  not  the  same 
material  which  is  found  in  many  parts 
of  Europe.  That  "peat"  is  the  surface 
soil,  where  some  of  the  ericas  are  or 
have  been  growing,  and  after  the  vege- 
table matter  has  been  shaken  out  it  is 
merely  a  lump  of  fibrous  roots  of  no 
fertilizing  benefit,  but  merely  a  me- 
chanical medium.  Tuis  quality  of  peat 
is  seldom  found  here,  but  a  very  good 
substitute  is  found  in  the  chopped-up 
fibrous  roots  of  our  strong  growing 
native  ferns,  a  good  quality  of  which 


Mass  of  Cattleya  Trianae,  grown  on  wooden  block. 


is  sold  by  several  firms,  and  this  is  the 
"peat"  referred  to  below. 

I  trust  the  would-be  grower  of  or- 
chids will  dispel  from  his  mind  the 
idea  that  there  is  any  secret  or  mys- 
tery in  growing  orchids.  The  cardinal 
qualities  that  will  grow  a  house  of 
roses  will  grow  orchids — attention  to 
the  requirements  of  the  plants,  clean- 
liness, air,  light,  moisture,  but  above 
all,  with  orchids  study  the  time  and 
length  of  time  the  plants  need  resting. 
The  latter  is  the  most  essential  part  of 
orchid  culture. 

The  following  cultural  directions 
have  been  prepared  and  written  by  Mr. 
Wm.  Hewson,  whom  I  now  have  the 
honor  to  employ.  He  began  his  orchid 
experience  with  the  fine  collection  at 
Goodwood,  the  grand  home  of  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  afterwards  being 
constantly  associated  with  orchid  cul- 
ture in  several  places  in  the  vicinity  of 
London.  After  arriving  in  this  coun- 
try he  was  the  practical  cultivator  of 
the  wonderful  collection  of  Mrs.  Mor- 
gan, of  New  York,  during  the  last 
three  years  of  its  existence.  Since 
that  time  and  always  he  has  been  an 
orchid  enthusiast,  and  they  have  never 
been  absent  from  his  charge.  What 
he  says  about  them  is  plain  and  to 
the  point,  and  can  be  understood  by 
all,  and  I  have  proof,  and  with  the 
utmost  confidence  say,  that  every  word 
of  his  can  be  confidently  relied  upon 
and  followed.  WM.  SCOTT. 

Best  Orchids  for  Commercial  Purposes. 

All  baskets  or  racks  should  be  made 
of  red  cedar,  or  hardwood,  and  should 
be  put  together  with  copper  wire  or 
copper  nails,  to  prevent  rusting. 

AERIDES.— This  beautiful  genus  is 
a  native  of  India  and  the  Indian  archi- 
pelago, and  requires  a  rather  high 
temperature.  They  can  be  successfully 
grown  suspended  from  the  roof  of  a 
palm  house,  where  a  temperature  of 
60  to  65  degrees  can  be  maintained 
during  the  winter  months.  Their  rest- 
ing season  is  from  about  November  to 
March,  after  which  period  the  tem- 
perature can  rise  10  or  15  degrees  as 
the  growing  season  advances.  They 
can  be  grown  in  either  pots  or  bas- 
kets, but  I  prefer  the  latter.  Fill  the 
pots  or  baskets  two -thirds  full  of 
clean  broken  potsherus  or  charcoal; 
place  your  plant  well  up  and  finish  off 
with  a  good  top  dressing  of  live,  clean 
sphagnum  moss.  Care  should  be  tak- 
en to  keep  the  plants  clean;  remove  all 
decayed  matter  from  their  roots  and 
replace  with  fresh  when  occasion  re- 
quires. Give  a  liberal  supply  of  water 
during  their  growing  season;  in  fact, 
they  should  never  be  allowed  to  be- 
come dry,  or  the  leaves  will  shrivel. 
The  white  and  brown  scale  are  deadly 
enemies  to  this  class  of  plants,  and 
should  be  watched  for,  or  the  plants 
will  soon  become  useless. 

Aerides  Fieldingii,  a  very  free  flow- 
ering species  with  bright,  rose  colored 
spikes,  commonly  called  the  fox-brush 
orchid.  It  generally  blooms  during 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J5J 


June  and  July  and  lasts  about  three 
weeks  in  perfection. 

Aerides  crispum,  another  beautiful 
species,  a  free  bloomer  and  of  easy 
culture.  This  variety  grows  best  in  a 
basket  suspended  from  the  roof, 
blooms  in  summer,  and  the  flowers 
have  a  very  pleasing  odor. 

Aerides  Lobbii,  a  dwarf  growing 
species,  does  well  in  a  basket,  blooms 
during  June  and  July,  the  spikes  of 
pink  flowers  from  12  to  18  inches  long 
and  perfectly  round.  This  is  a  grand 
variety. 

Aerides  odoratum  majus,  a  grand 
old  variety,  very  free  bloomer,  beauti- 
ful, aromatic  odor,  flowers  in  summer, 
lasting  about  two  weeks  in  perfection; 
should  find  a  place  in  every  collec- 
tion. 

ANGRAECUM.— This  peculiar  genus 
requires  the  same  treatment  as  aerides, 
only  they  all  grow  best  in  pots  and 
require  abundance  of  drainage  and 
plenty  of  moisture  during  their  grow- 
ing season,  which  is  about  the  same  as 
that  of  the  aerides.  A  little  good 
fibrous  peat  can  be  used  with  the 
sphagnum  for  potting.  They  are  most- 
ly natives  of  Madagascar.  The  follow- 
ing I  consider  the  best  varieties  for 
commercial  purposes: 

Angraecum  eburneum,  greenish- 
white  flowers,  very  sweet  and  very 
large,  strong  spikes;  blooms  during 
the  winter  months. 

Angraecum  sesquipedale.  This  spe- 
cies I  consider  the  best  of  the  genus. 
It  is  a  good  grower  and  has  large, 
peculiarly-formed  flowers,  with  long 
white  tails  of  ivory  whiteness,  and 


House  of  Cattleya  Trianae. 


Cattleya  Mossiae. 

very  fragrant.  I  have  seen  these  tails 
from  10  to  15  inches  long.  It  blooms 
in  winter. 

Angraecum  Ellisii,  another  fine  spe- 
cies, with  immense  flower  spikes  of 
pure  white  color,  lip  a  cinnamon 
brown;  very  sweet  scented. 

.  CALANTHE.— A  terrestrial  orchid, 
and  many  are  also  deciduous.  They  are 
best  grown  in  pots,  well  drained,  and 
the  bulbs  well  elevated.  Pot  in  a  com- 
post of  good  fibrous  loam,  some  well 
rotted  cow  manure,  a  little  good,  sharp 
sand,  and  some  broken  charcoal,  well 
mixed.  Pot  in  March  for  flowering  in 
December  and  January.  They  require 
a  brisk  heat  and  plenty  of  water  in 
their  growing  season.  An  occasional 
watering  with  good  liquid  manure  is 
very  helpful  to  them.  Place  the  plants 
in  a  cool  house  a  few  days  before  cut- 
ting the  flowers  for  market,  as  Lais 
greatly  adds  to  their  strength  and 
color.  They  should  be  rested  in  the 
same  temperature  as  they  were  grown, 
but  withhold  water  altogether  until 
you  wish  to  start  them  growing  again. 
This  variety  is  subject  to  thrip  and 
should  therefore  be  watched. 

Calanthe  Veitchii,  a  beautiful  sort, 
with  large,  branching  spikes  of  flowers 
of  a  fine  rosy  pink  color. 

Calanthe  vestita  rubro-oculata.  This 
variety  has  flowers  the  same  as  the 


152 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Cattleyas  Mounted  in  Various  Ways. 


preceding,    only     differing    in    color, 
which  is  white,  with  crimson  eye. 

Calanthe  lutea,  a  beautiful  variety, 
with  fine  spikes  of  white  and  lemon 
colored  flowers. 

CATTLEYA.  —  This  genus  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  best  for  commer- 
cial purposes,  on  account  of  its  easy 
culture  and  the  varied  and  extreme 
beauty  of  its  flowers,  which  are  pro- 
duced at  all  times  of  the  year  and  al- 
ways find  a  ready  sale  in  the  large 
cities.  Most  of  the  species  can  be  suc- 
cessfully grown  where  a  temperature 
of  55  to  60  degrees  can  be  maintained 
during  winter.  They  can  be  grown  in 
either  pots  or  baskets,  and  many  will 
do  well  on  blocks  of  wood  suspended 
from  the  roof,  if  the  room  is  limited. 
All  cattleyas  like  a  strong  light  and 
should  be  grown  as  near  the  glass  as 
possible,  with  but  little  shading  and  a 


moderate  supply  of  water,  even  in 
their  growing  season.  By  keeping 
them  a  little  on  the  dry  side,  you  in- 
sure stronger  growth  and  better  flow- 
ers. Have  plenty  of  air  and  moisture 
around  them  and  you  will  seldom  if 
ever  fail  to  be  satisfied  with  the  re- 
sults. Pot  in  a  well  drained  pot  or 
basket  in  good,  fibrous  peat,  with  all 
the  decayed  vegetable  matter  removed, 
and  some  clean,  live  sphagnum  moss. 
For  blocks  use  a  little  peat  at  the  back 
and  fasten  firmly  with  copper  wire. 
Of  course,  plants  grown  in  this  way 
must  be  watched,  that  they  do  not 
suffer  from  lack  of  water,  as  they  dry 
out  much  quicker  than  when  in  pots  or 
baskets.  The  resting  season  of  a  cat- 
tleya  commences  as  soon  as  they  have 
finished  their  growth,  when  water 
must  be  withheld  enough  to  just  keep 
the  plant  from  shriveling.  The  white 
scale  is  an  enemy  of  the  plants,  and  if 


allowed  to  accumulate,  will  soon  de- 
stroy the  best  of  specimens. 

Cattleya  gigas,  one  of  the  finest  spe- 
cies, from  New  Granada,  has  fine,  bold 
spikes  of  beautifully  marked  flowers, 
pale  rose  and  crimson,  and  yellow 
blotched  throat.  Blooms  in  April  or 
May. 

Cattleya  labiata,  one  of  the  very 
best,  from  Brazil,  with  beautiful  rose 
and  crimson  flowers,  which  come  iu 
November  and  December.  This  variety 
grows  best  in  a  pot. 

Cattleya  Mendelii,  a  beautiful  species 
from  South  America,  flowers  in  April 
or  May.  Color  white  and  crimson; 
will  do  well  in  a  basket,  and  on  no 
account  over-pot  this  variety. 

Cattleya  Mossiae.  This  fine,  old  spe- 
cies is  perhaps  the  best  known  of  this 
genus,  and  should  be  in  every  collec- 
tion. It  blooms  in  early  spring  and 
lasts  a  long  time  in  perfection  if  kept 
cool  and  dry.  It  will  do  well  on  a 
block  if  room  is  limited,  and,  suspend- 
ed among  the  palms,  will  grow  finely. 

Cattleya  Trianae.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  extensively  grown  species  of  the 
genus.  Flowering  as  it  does  during 
the  autumn  and  winter  months,  it  is  a 
general  favorite  with  all;  can  be 
grown  on  a  block. 

Cattleya  Percivaliana  is  a  fine  win- 
ter flowering  variety  from  South 
America,  grows  best  in  a  basket  or 
pot,  profuse  bloomer  under  proper 
treatment;  should  be  in  every  collec- 
tion. %  J- 

Cattleya  Bowringiana,  a  magnificent 
species,  producing  on  one  spike  as 
many  as  twelve  or  fifteen  blooms  or 
rosk  pink  color,  with  crimson  lip.  It 
should  be  grown  in  a  pot  with  plenty 
of  room,  as  it  is  a  very  strong  grower. 

Cattleya  crispa,  a  fine  species,  very 
free  flowering,  producing  fine  spikes 
of  beautiful,  pure  white  flowers,  with 
crimson  lip  and  throat.  Blooms  in 
July  or  August,  and  will  grow  well  in 
a  basket  suspended  from  the  roof. 

OOFJLOGYNE.— 'This  genus  has  many 
species  and  varieties,  though  very  few 
are  of  much  value  to  the  commercial 
florist.  The  most  useful  is  the  beauti- 
ful 

Coelogyne  cristata  grandiflora,  which 
produces  its  graceful  racemes  of  white 
flowers  with  yellow  blotches  on  throat 
in  early  spring.  This  plant  is  of  com- 
paratively easy  culture.  It  likes  abun- 
dance of  water  during  its  growing  sea- 
son, which  lasts  till  the  bulbs  have 
matured,  when  water  should  be  with- 
held until  the  flower  spikes  are  well 
advanced;  otherwise  they  will  start 
growing  again  instead  of  blooming. 
This  species  grows  best  in  pots  or 
pans,  giving  the  plants  plenty  of  room 
and  good  drainage.  Elevate  the  bulbs 
on  a  compost  of  good  fibrous  peat, 
broken  charcoal,  or  potsherds  about 
the  size  of  hazel  nuts,  and  sphagnum 
moss,  and  finish  off  with  live  sphag- 
num as  a  top  dressing.  Potting  should 
be  done  as  soon  as  the  flowering  sea- 
son is  over.  This  plant  will  do  well 
in  a  night  temperature  of  50  to  55 
degrees  in  winter. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J53 


CYPRIPEDIUM.— This  peculiarly  in- 
teresting genus  is  .  of  easy  culture. 
They  may  be  grown  in  either  pots  or 
pans,  in  equal  parts  of  good,  fibrous 
peat  and  live  sphagnum;  a  little  brok- 
en charcoal  is  beneficial,  as  it  pre- 
vents the  compost  from  becoming 
sour.  You  can  feed  liquid  manure  to 
the  strong  growing  varieties  and  it 
will  materially  help  them  if  they  are 
well  rooted.  They  like  plenty  of  wa- 
ter during  summer,  their  growing  sea- 
son, and  being  evergreen  and  having, 
no  bulbs  to  feed  from,  should  never 
be  allowed  to  suffer  from  lack  of  it. 
Do  not  overshade  cypripediums,  as 
they  delight  in  a  strong  light.  Most 
all  varieties  require  a  warm  tempera- 
ture. The  following  are  the  best  for 
commercial  purposes: 

Cypripedium  insigne  is  a  cool  house 
species,  but  can  be  grown  in  a  warm 
house.  It  is  a  profuse  bloomer  if  well 
cared  for,  flowers  in  winter,  and  lasts 
a  long  time  in  perfection.  It  is  very 
beneficial  to  put  it  outside  for  three 
months  in  summer,  slightly  shaded 
and  well  watered. 

oypripedium  Harrisianum,  a  fine 
hybrid,  often  flowering  twice  a  year, 
is  a  fine  bloomer  and  stronger  grower 
than  most  cypripediums,  therefore  re- 
quires plenty  of  pot  room  and  should 
be  grown  in  a  warm  house. 

Cypripedium  Lawrenceanum,  an- 
other species  requiring  a  warm,  moist 
atmosphere,  is  a  good  bloomer,  with 
bold,  straight  stems  and  beautifully 
marked  flower.  Blooms  in  summer 
and  autumn;  do  not  over-pot  it. 

Cypripedium  Spicerianum,  which  I 
consider  the  queen  of  the  genus,  is  a 
very  free  grower  and  good  bloomer, 
and  is  a  great  favorite  in  the  cut- 
flower  market.  It  requires  a  warm 


Cattleya  Percivaliana. 


Coelogyne  Cristata. 


temperature,  flowers  in  early  spring, 
and  lasts  a  long  time. 

Cypripedium  villosum,  a  grand  spe- 
cies from  India;  similar  in  color  to 
Insigne,  but  the  flowers  are  much 
larger,  and  have  the  appearance  of 
being  varnished.  This  is  a  very  use- 
ful sort,  as  it  will  thrive  in  either  a 
cool  or  warm  house,  and  should  be  in 
every  collection.  It  is  a  very  strong 
grower,  requiring  plenty  of  pot-room. 

DENDROBIUM.  —  The  members  of 
this  genus  are  almost  numberless,  and 
include  some  of  the  most  beautiful,  as 
well  as  the  most  useful,  orchids  for 
the  cut  -  flower  trade.  They  can  be 
grown  in  pots  or  baskets,  with  plenty 
of  drainage  and  a  compost  of  good, 
fibrous  peat  and  live  sphagnum,  with 
some  broken  charcoal  or  potsherds 
mixed  with  it.  They  require  a  warm 
temperature  during  their  growing  sea- 
son, with  plenty  of  water,  but  several 
species,  such  as  Wardianum,  nobile, 
Devonianum,  etc.,  should  be  moved  to 
a  cool  house  as  soon  as  they  have 
stopped  growing,  and  left  there  until 
their  flower  buds  are  well  advanced, 
when  they  may  go  into  a  little  warm- 
er house  to  flower.  If  this  treatment 
is  followed  up  you  will  be  seldom,  if 
ever,  disappointed  in  the  results  of 
your  labors.  Watch  for  the  thrip  on 


10 


154 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL 


Cypripedium  Insigne. 


but  by  following  the  above  directions 
you  can  grow  it  just  as  well  as  Wardi- 
anum.  It  flowers  in  May  or  June,  and 
they  last  about  two  weeks  in  perfec- 
tion. 

Dendrobium  densiflorum  is  another 
erect-growing  species  from  India,  and 
grows  best  in  a  pot,  but  can  be  grown 
in  a  basket  in  good  fibrous  peat  and 
but  little  sphagnum.  It  blooms  in 
April  or  May,  the  large  clusters  of 
beautiful  yellow  flowers  being  in  form 
like  a  bunch  of  grapes.  This  species 
requires  a  long  rest  after  the  bulbs 
are  grown,  but  do  not  allow  the  plant 
to  shrivel.  The  flowers  last  about  a 
week  in  perfection. 

LAELIA. — Of  this  genus  only  two 
species  are  useful  to  the  commercial 
grower. 

Laelia  anceps.  This  can  be  well 
grown  on  a  block  of  hard  wood  with 
a  little  fibrous  peat  fastened  at  the 
back  of  the  plant,  which  should  be 
firmly  nxed  on  with  copper  wire.  It 
can  also  be  grown  in  a  suspended  bas- 
ket. Use  a  compost  of  good,  clean 
•  peat,  charcoal,  and  live  sphagnum 
moss,  and  keep  well  drained.  This  is 
a  grand  species,  with  long  flower 
spikes,  which  last  a  month  if  kept  in 
a  cool  house.  Give  pienty  of  water 
during  the  growing  season,  which  is 
from  about  April  to  November.  It  is 
a  free  bloomer  and  blooms  in  January 
and  February.  It  will  grow  well  in  a 
cattleya  house,  but  can  be  grown  con- 
siderably cooler. 


these  plants,  as  they  soon  destroy 
them  if  allowed  to  remain. 

Dendrobium  Wardianum,  a  beautiful 
species  from  Assam,  is  perhaps  the 
best.  It  is  a  very  strong  grower  and 
good  bloomer  if  above  instructions  are 
followed,  but  be  sure  you  do  not  over- 
pot  this  species,  as  nothing  is  more 
injurious  to  it.  It  blooms  in  early 
spring  and  lasts  a  long  time  if  kept 
cool  and  dry.  It  should  be  grown  in 
a  basket,  suspended. 

Dendrobium  nobile  Is  a  well  known 
old  species  from  India,  requiring  the 
same  treatment  as  Wardianum,  but 
can,  if  necessity  requires,  be  grown 
cooler  and  kept  back,  or  forced  into 
flower,  as  desired  by  the  grower,  at 
any  time  from  December  to  May. 

Dendrobium  formosum  giganteum,  a 
beautiful  variety,  differs  somewhat 
from  the  preceding,  as  it  is  evergreen 
and  produces  its  beautiful,  large  flow- 
ers of  pure  white,  with  yellow  blotched 
lip  on  the  top  of  the  stems,  from  two 
to  five  flowers  on  a  spike.  This  va- 
riety needs  but  little  rest  and  should 
certainly  be  grown  in  a  basket  and 
suspended  in  the  warmest  house.  This 
is  another  sort  that  should  never  be 
over-potted,  and  must  always  be  well 
drained. 

Dendrobium  Devonianum  is  a  mag- 
nificent species,  and  is  best  grown  in  a 
basket.  Give  abundance  of  water  in 
the  growing  season  and  freely  syringe 
the  foliage  at  least  once  a  day  in  hot 
weather,  to  keep  down  the  thrip,  which 
is  particularly  partial  to  this  sort.  It 
Is  by  many  considered  hard  to  grow, 


Cypripedium  Leucochilum  Godseffianum. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL 


J55 


Some  Types  of  Cypr ipedioms. 


156 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Laelia  purpurata,  a  magnificent  spe- 
cies from  Brazil,  in  form  resembles  a 
cattleya,  and  requires  about  the  same 
treatment  It  can  be  grown  in  either 
pot  or  basket,  has  a  grand  spike  of 
beautifully  marked  flowers,  with  crim- 
son purple  lip.  Do  not  over-pot  it  and 
watch  out  for  white  scale.  This  spe- 
cies should  be  in  every  collection. 

LYCASTE.— This  genus  is  of  easy 
culture  and  can  be  grown  best  in  a 
cool  or  intermediate  house.  Pot  in  a 
compost  of  good,  fibrous  peat  and  a 
little  sphagnum  and  broken  charcoal. 
Give  abundance  of  water  during  their 
growing  season;  in  fact,  this  plant 
should  never  be  allowed  to  become  too 


ODONTOGLOSSUM.—  This  is  a  grand 
genus  of  orchids,  probably  the  most 
interesting  of  all.  They  can  all  be 
grown  in  pots,  with  plenty  of  drainage 
and  abundance  of  water  during  their 
growing  season;  in  fact,  they  should 
never  be  allowed  to  become  dry  enough 
to  allow  the  sphagnum  to  lose  its 
beautiful,  fresh  green  color,  even  in 
winter.  They  grow  well  potted  in  good 
fibrous  peat,  with  a  liberal  top  dress- 
ing of  good,  green  sphagnum,  which 
should  be  removed  as  soon  as  decayed 
and  replaced  by  fresh;  this  sometimes 
has  to  be  done  twice  a  year.  They  de- 
light in  a  cool,  moist  atmospherej  and 
plenty  of  air  in  summer,  and  in  win- 


Freshly  Imported  Cattleyas. 


dry  at  the  roots,  even  during  their  sea- 
son of  rest.  The  growing  season  is 
from  about  April  to  October. 

i^ycaste  Skinnerii,  a  native  of  Guate- 
mala, is  undoubtedly  the  best  species, 
blooming  freely,  as  it  does,  during  the 
winter  months,  with  fine,  erect,  beau- 
tifully marked  flowers  of  white,  rose 
colored,  and  crimson,  ana  they  last  a 
long  time  in  perfection.  Care  should 
be  taken  to  keep  the  flowers  free  from 
damp  or  they  will  soon  become  discol- 
ored or  destroyed. 

Lycaste  cruenta  is  a  very  free  flow- 
ering species  from  Guatemala,  blooms 
about  April,  and  has  a  very  pleasing, 
aromatic  odor.  It  requires  the  same 
treatment  as  the  preceding. 


ter,  when  possible.  A  northern  aspect 
suits  many  of  them,  as  they  do  not 
like  the  sun,  and  should  in  any  case 
be  shaded  from  its  direct  rays.  A  good 
syringing  with  a  fine  rose  twice  a  day 
in  summer  and  once  a  day  in  winter 
on  all  bright  days  is  very  beneficial 
to  them.  A  temperature  of  45  to  50 
degrees  in  winter  suits  them  admir- 
ably, with  but  few  exceptions.  They 
should  on  no  account  be  over-potted, 
and  must  be  always  well  drained.  They 
all  flower  from  the  side  of  the  bulb. 
Watch  for  slugs  and  snails,  as  they 
eat  the  tender  flower  spike  very  often. 
Cotton  batting  placed  about  the  flower 
spike  is  a  good  preventive.  They  are 


also  subject  to  thrip  if  allowed  to  get 
dry. 

Odontoglossum  /uexandrae  (crisp- 
urn),  a  most  beautiful  variety  from 
Bogota,  one  of  the  best  cool  house 
orchids,  has  a  very  graceful  spike  of 
pure  white  flowers,  blotched  with  ir- 
regular cinnamon  spots.  The  plant 
blooms  in  fall  and  early  winter. 

Odontoglossum  vexillarium  (some- 
times called  Miltonia  vexillarium). 
This  grand  species  grows  best  in  the 
cattleya  house,  but  should  have  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  kept  from  it. 
Elevate  the  plant  well  on  the  pot  and 
use  only  the  best  fibrous  peat  and 
good,  clean  sphagnum,  and  plenty  of 
drainage.  This  species  comes  from 
Brazil  and  blooms  freely  during  sum- 
mer and  autumn  under  proper  treat- 
ment. The  flowers  are  large,  rosy 
pink,  and  very  distinct.  They  last  a 
long  time  if  kept  free  from  damp. 

Odontoglossum  cirrhosum,  a  mag- 
nificent species,  that  is  a  native  of 
Ecuador,  and  produces  a  very  fine 
spike  from  12  to  18  inches  long  of 
beautifully  marked  fi^wers,  pure 
white,  with  heavy  cinnamon  spots.  It 
grows  best  in  a  cool  house  and  should 
surely  be  in  every  collection. 

Odontoglossum  citrosmum.  a  truly 
beautiful  species  that  comes  from 
Guatemala,  and  differs  materially  from 
the  preceding.  It  is  best  grown  in  a 
basket,  suspended  in  the  cattleya 
house,  as  it  produces  long,  drooping 
flower  spikes  of  pure  white  ground, 
with  almost  invisible  lavender  spots; 
blooms  in  June  or  July. 

Odontoglossum  maculatum,  a  charm- 
ing species  that  also  comes  from 
Guatemala,  and  produces  its  beautiful, 
erect  spikes  of  yellow  and  crimson 
flowers  during  the  winter.  Grow  in  a 
pot  in  the  cool  house. 

Odontoglossum  Phalaenopsis,  one  of 
the  best  of  the  genus  if  properly 
grown,  and  should  be  in  every  collec- 
tion. It  grows  best  in  the  cattleya 
house  and  should  be  grown  in  a  pot 
well  drained.  This  is  a  very  distinct 
species,  with  very  large,  perfectly  flat 
white  and  crimson  flowers,  which  are 
produced  during  the  autumn  months. 

Odontoglossum  grande,  a  beautiful, 
free  flowering  species,  that  comes  from 
Guatemala  and  is  commonly  known  as 
the  "Baby  Orchid."  It  grows  best  in 
a  pot,  blooms  in  autumn  and  winter, 
the  flowers  lasting  a  very  long  time. 
It  produces  an  upright,  stiff  stem,  with 
from  three  to  five  large  tiger-striped 
yellow  and  brown  flowers.  It  is  sub- 
ject to  thrip  if  allowed  to  become  dry. 
Should  be  grown  in  the  cool  house. 

Odontoglossum  Rossii  majus,  a  sweet 
little  variety  from  Mexico.  It  grows 
best  on  a  block,  with  a  little  fibrous 
peat  and  abundance  of  water.  It  is  a 
very  free  bloomer,  with  short  spikes 
of  two  or  three  beautifully  marked 
crimson  and  white  flowers.  A  very 
suitable  variety  for  boutonnieres.  It 
deserves  a  place  in  every  collection. 

ONCIDIUM.— This  interesting  genus 
is  perhaps  the  most  useful  commer- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J57 


cially  of  any  for  its  gracefully  delicate 
spikes  of  beautifully  marked  flowers, 
some  of  which  can  be  had  at  all  times 
of  the  year  under  proper  cultivation. 
Most  of  them  like  the  temperature  of 
the  cattleya  house,  but  can  be  grown 
in  cooler  quarters  if  care  is  observed 
in  watering.  Oncidiums  do  not  like 
much  water  on  the  foliage,  but  require 
plenty  of  moisture  In  the  atmosphere 
as  well  as  free  ventilation.  Many  sorts 
grow  well  on  blocks,  with  sphagnum 
moss  or  good,  fibrous  peat  at  the  back 
of  them,  and  firmly  fastened  with 
strong  copper  wire.  All  varieties  de- 
light to  be  .  suspended  as  near  the 
glass  as  practicable,  but  must  be 
shaded  lightly.  They  like  plenty  of 
water  at  their  roots  in  their  growing 
season,  and  those  grown  in  pots  or 
baskets  require  an  abundance  of  drain- 
age. They  can  be  grown  in  either  peat 
or  sphagnum,  or  both,  but  I  prefer  the 
latter  for  most  sorts,  with  some  brok- 
en charcoal.  During  their  resting  sea- 
son water  very  carefully,  but  on  no 
account  allow  them  to  suffer  for  want 
of  it.  Most  species  are  subject  to  the 
white  scale  and  should  therefore  be 
watched.  Slugs  are  very  partial  to 
the  young,  tender  flower  spikes,  and  a 
small  piece  of  cotton  batting  should 
be  tied  around  them  to  save  them  from 
the  depredations  of  these  pests. 

Oncidium  ampliatum  majus  is,  I 
think,  a  native  of  Guatemala,  and  pro- 
duces its  large,  branching  spikes  of 
beautiful  yellow  flowers  in  spring,  and 
continues  blooming  for  at  least  six 
weeks  if  in  robust  health.  It  grows 
best  in  a  pot  or  basket,  but  can  be 
grown  on  a  block  if  plenty  of  water  is 
given. 


Laelta  Anceps. 


Qdontoglossum  Rossii  Majus. 


Oncidium  incurvum,  a  pretty  Mexi- 
can species,  blooming  very  freely  in 
winter,  has  long  spikes  of  white  and 
brown  flowers.  Grows  best  in  a  pot, 
with  the  same  treatment  as  the  above. 

Oncidium  crispum,  a  grand  dwarf 
species  from  Brazil,  grows  best  on  a 
block  with  a  little  sphagnum  or  fibrous 
peat,  loves  moisture  and  does  well  in 
the  cattleya  house  or  any  house  main- 
taining a  night  temperature  of  55  to 
60  degrees;  blooms  generally  in  sum- 
mer; has  a  large,  branching  spike  of 
yellowish  copper  color;  is  very  at- 
tractive and  lasts  about  three  or  four 
weeks. 

Oncidium  reflexum,  a  fine  old  species 
from  Mexico,  produces  numerous 
spikes  of  beautiful  yellow  flowers  dur- 
ing autumn.  It  is  a  general  favorite 
with  both  grower  and  purchaser  and 
should  be  grown  by  all  orchid  grow- 
ers. 

Oncidium  varicosum  is  a  good  spe- 
cies for  all  to  grow,  as  it  is  a  very 
free  grower  and  good  bloomer.  Grows 
best  in  a  flat  pot  or  basket,  in  a  warm 
house,  suspended;  has  a  fine  spike  of 
canary  yellow  flowers;  very  imposing 
in  appearance;  is  a  native  of  Brazil; 
blooms  in  summer  and  lasts  a  long 
time  in  perfection. 

Onoidium  varicosum  Rogersii,  one  of 
the  very  best  of  the  genus,  similar  to 
the  above  in  habit  and  color,  but 


J58 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Phalaenopsis  Schilleriana. 


grows  stronger  and  has  much  larger 
spikes;  a  very  valuable  variety  for 
commercial  purposes,  both  as  a  pot 
plant  or  cut  flower.  I  have  grown  this 
beautiful  plant  myself  with  more  than 
100  blooms  on  a  spike.  It  blooms  in 
autumn  and  in  early  winter  months 
and  lasts  a  long  time  in  perfection. 

Oncidium  tigrinum  is  another  fine 
species  from  Mexico,  with  a  large, 
branching  spike  of  beautifully  marked 
yellow  and  brown  flowers,  produced  in 
winter;  is  a  free  bloomer  and  lasts  a 
long  time  in  perfection.  Grows  best  in 
a  pot 

Oncidium  Cavendishianum  is  a  beau- 
tiful species,  having  large,  heavy, 
fleshy  leaves,  and  is  therefore  best 
grown  in  a  pot.  It  produces  during 
winter  enormous  spikes  of  beautiful 
yellow  flowers,  and  they  last  six  to 
eight  weeks  in  perfection.  It  is  a  na- 
tive of  Guatemala.  Although  when 
in  good  health  it  produces  very  large 
foliage,  I  do  not  think  it  needs  a  pot 
or  pan  in  proportion  to  its  size,  as 
nothing  is  more  injurious  to  it  than 
being  over-potted.  It  requires  careful 
watering  during  the  dull  months  of 
winter,  which  is  its  resting  season. 

PHALAENOPSIS.— There  are  many 
species  of  this  genus,  all  beautiful, 
though  many  are  not  productive 
enough  to  warrant  them  a  place  in 
the  commercial  list.  They  all  require 
a  high  temperature,  not  less  than  65 
degrees  during  winter,  but  70  degrees 
is  even  better.  They  delight  in  light, 
heat,  and  moisture,  and  should  be 
lightly  sprayed  once  a  day  during  hot 
weather;  ventilate  freely  when  it  is 
possible,  as  they  delight  in  pure  air, 
but  by  no  means  place  them  In  a 
draught.  They  grow  best  in  perfo- 
rated pots,  or  baskets,  well  drained 
with  good,  clean  potsherds  or  broken 
charcoal,  or  both,  with  a  liberal  top 
dressing  of  good,  live  sphagnum, 


which  should  be  removed  as  soon  as 
decay  begins  and  replaced  by  fresh. 
As  phalaenopsis  delight  in  cleanliness, 
great  care  is  necessary  in  potting  this 
genus,  particularly  Schilleriana  and 
amabilis,  as  they  root  freely  and  cling 
firmly  to  the  pot  or  basket  in  which 
they  are  grown,  and  cannot  be  re- 
moved without  the  aid  of  a  knife,  and 
this  is  a  very  delicate  operation,  often 
resulting  in  serious  injury  to  the 
plants.  A  good  plan  is  to  place  the 
plant,  pot  and  all,  into  larger  size  and 
fill  up  with  charcoal  ari  fresh  sphag- 
num, and  not  disturb  tne  roots  at  all. 
These  plants  should  be  suspended,  if 
possible,  as  they  love  the  light,  but 
must  be  shaded  from  the  direct  sun, 
or  the  leaves  will  burn;  and  never  al- 
low them  to  suffer  for  want  of  water. 

Phalaenopsis  Schilleriana  is  a  mag- 
nificent species  from  Manila,  has  large 
branching  spikes  during  winter  and 
spring  of  beautiful  mauve  flowers 
edged  with  white,  with  reddish  brown 
spotted  lip. 

Phalaenopsis  amabilis,  a  beautiful 
species  also  from  Manila,  is  certainly 
the  queen  of  this  genus;  blooms  at  all 
times  of  the  year  and  lasts  a  long  time 
in  perfection.  It  has  long,  graceful 
spikes  of  pure  white  flowers,  lip  spot- 


Orchids  growing  in  hanging  pots. 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


159 


ted  with  pink.  This  is  one  of  the  best 
for  market  purposes  and  requires  the 
same  treatment  as  above. 

Phalaenopsis  grandiflora,  a  beautiful 
species,  that  comes  from  Java  and  re- 
sembles amabilis  in  every  way  except 
that  the  lip  of  the  flower  is  marked 
with  lemon  yellow  instead  of  pink. 
This  plant  grows  well  on  a  rack  with 
sphagnum  moss  at  the  back  and  is  a 
very  prolific  bloomer. 

VANDA. — This  beautiful  genus  re- 
quires a  temperature  of  60  to  65  de- 
grees at  night  and  delights  in  the 
sun,  unless  very  strong,  and  then  a 
light  shading  for  an  hour  or  two  will 
be  sufficient.  All  the  species  will 
grow  in  pots,  well  drained,  and  potted 
in  clean,  fresh  sphagnum  and  broken 
charcoal,  with  plenty  of  moisture 
about  them,  and  lots  of  water  at  the 
roots  in  summer,  but  be  very  careful 
in  winter,  unless  the  pot  is  very  full 
of  roots  and  growing  freely.  Give  a 
little  air  when  possible  in  winter  and 
plenty  in  summer.  Some  species  bloom 
twice  and  even  three  times  a  year. 
The  flowers  have  a  delightful  odor  and 
last  about  a  month  if  kept  dry.  All 
vandas  are  subject  to  scale,  and  should 
be  kept  free  from  these  pests,  or  the 
plant  will  soon  be  ruined. 

Vanda  caerulea,  the  beautiful  blue 
orchid,  should  be  in  every  collection. 


Group  of  Vanda  Caerulea. 


Vanda  Suavis. 


It  is  of  easy  culture  and  a  very  free 
bloomer.  A  temperature  of  55  degrees 
at  night  suits  it  well,  as  the  flowers 
are  a  much  better  color  than  those 
grown  in  a  higher  temperature.  It  is 
a  native  of  northern  India  and  blooms 
in  autumn.  Do  not  over-pot  this  plant 
and  suspend  as  near  the  glass  as  pos- 
sible. 


Vanda  insignis,  a  grand  old  sort 
from  the  Malayan  islands,  blooms  in 
May  or  June.  It  has  large  spikes  of 
flowers  of  a  magnificent  combination 
of  colors,  is  of  easy  culture  and  a 
very  free  bloomer. 

Vanda  suavis.  One  can  hardly  say 
enough  about  this  old  favorite  from 
Java,  blooming  at  all  times  of  the 


year,  large  spikes  of  beautiful  white 
flowers  spotted  with  crimson.  I  have 
seen  this  plant  in  bloom  ten  months 
out  of  the  year. 

Vanda  tricolor  is  similar  to  suavis, 
of  the  same  habit,  and  requires  the 
same  treatment,  only  the  flowers  are 
lemon  yellow,  with  crimson  spots, 
purple  and  white  lip,  and  last  a  very 
long  time.  It  also  is  a  native  of  Java. 


MEXICAN  ORCHIDS 

Leading  species  of  Oncidiums,  Lselias 

and  Odontoglots  for  florists Will 

send   collection  of   12  plants,    parcel 
postpaid,  for  $5.00. 

j.  A.  MCDOWELL, 

Apartado167.        CITY  OF  MEXICO. 


OTHONNA. 

The  species  crassifolia  is  worthy  of 
notice.  Because  of  its  succulent,  fleshy 
leaves  it  is  one  of  our  very  best  bas- 
ket plants.  It  withstands  the  heat  and 
drying-out  process  which  our  hanging 
baskets  undergo  better  than  almost 
any  of  the  plants  we  use  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

It  is  most  easily  increased  by  cut- 
tings at  any  time  of  the  year.  A 
rather  light,  sandy  soil  suits  it  best, 
and  when  its  pendant  growth  is  any 
length  you  should  find  some  place  for 
it  on  a  shelf.  Don't  give  it  a  cold, 
damp  place  in  the  greenhouse,  but 
keep  it  warm  and  growing,  and  you 
can  multiply  it  indefinitely,  as  the 
small  pieces  of  the  stem  will  root  any- 
where. 


J60 


OXALIS. 


A  very  large  genus,  of  which  a 
few  are  very  familiar  plants.  O. 
rosea  (floribunda)  and  O.  lutea  (yel- 
low) are  grown  as  pot  plants  and  sold 
in  the  spring,  and  they  make  excellent 
basket  plants,  but  not  mixed  with 
other  plants.  They  do  much  better 
and  have  a  finer  effect  when  in  a  mass 
by  themselves.  An  earthen  basket  or 
suspended  pan  is  better  for  the  oxalis 
than  a  wire  basket,  but  either  will  do. 

They  divide  readily,  which  is  best 
done  in  winter  when  the  plants  are 
partly  dormant.  They  dislike  a  wet, 
heavy  soil,  and  need  a  good,  light 
loam,  well  drained,  and  an  airy,  sunny 
exposure.  In  the  fall  give  them  less 
water,  and  for  December  ,  January  and 
February  they  could  rest  under  a  dry 
bench  in  a  cool  house  with  very  little 
water.  In  March  start  them  growing 
and  divide  if  you  wish. 

They  can  also  be  raised  from  seed. 
There  are  a  great  many  species,  hav- 
ing yellow,  white,  pink  and  violet 
flowers,  all  greenhouse  perennials,  be- 
sides a 'few  that  are  annuals.  The  two 
well  knoiwn  species  mentioned  are 
easy  to  grow  and  very  free  blooming. 

PACKING  FLOWERS. 
The  author  might  have  called  upon 
one  whose  business  it  was  to  daily, 
and  perhaps  all  day,  pack  flowers,  but 
since  he  received  a  letter  from  Chi- 
cago a  year  or  so  ago  which  ac- 
knowledged the  receipt  of  a  box  of  or- 
chid flowers  which  conveyed  the  pleas- 
ant tidings,  "The  coelogyne  flowers  ar- 
rived in  the  most  perfect  order;  they 
were  finely  packed,"  and  as  no  one 
but  myself  had  a  hand  in  it,  I  feel  com- 
petent not  only  to  pack  flowers,  but  to 
tell  others  how  to  do  it. 

This  is  an  opportune  time  to  repeat 
a  short  story  of  that  great  man,  Hor- 
ace Greeley,  who  embittered  and 
shortened  his  days  by  accepting  the 
nomination  for  president.  In  his 
young  days  he  edited  an  agricultural 
paper  somewhere  in  our  state,  and  a 
delegation  of  western  farmers  called 
on  him.  After  a  pleasant  chat  in  his 
office  the  leader  of  the  party  said: 
"Now,  Mr.  Greeley,  we  should  like  to 
see  your  farm."  "H— 1;  farm!  Gen- 
tlemen, you  don't  expect  a  man  to 
write  and  farm  too,"  was  the  forceful 
rejoinder.  So  it's  not  necessary  for  a 
man  to  be  continually  at  the  calling 
to  be  able  to  write  about  it.  In  fact, 
if  he  is  too  well  posted  on  a  specialty 
his  brain  is  liable  to  be  clouded. 

In  no  part  of  the  business  (for  this 
part  is  purely  a  business,  unlike  the 
cultivating,  which  is  a  profession)  is 
there  more  need  of  good  sense  and 
judgment,  which  with  constant  prac- 
tice makes  an  expert  packer  of  flow- 
ers. In  the  first  place,  some  men  have 
a  knack  or  gift  of  handling  cut  flow- 
ers different  from  others.  Some  men 
will  take  up  a  few  dozen  roses  from 
the  counter  and  move  them  or  show 
them  off  to  a  customer  as  quickly  but 
as  gently  as  a  mother  handles  a  two- 
months-old  baby,  while  I  have  often 
been  annoyed  to  see  others  slap  them 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 

down  as  if  they  were  a  bundle  of  salt 
codfish.  Every  time  the  soft  petals  of 
a  rose  get  a  knock  there  is  a  bruise 
that  does  not  show  at  once,  but  does 
in  a  few  hours. 

It  is  not  the  distance  they  travel; 
the  quick  ride  in  the  express  car  can 
do  but  little  harm;  but  they  get  jarred 
about  many  times  before  they  are 
placed  on  the  retailer's  counter.  The 
grower  may  handle  them  roughly; 
they  get  a  bump  at  the  local  station, 
and  another  when  thrown  into  the  ex- 
press car;  another  jar  or  two  before 
they  get  into  the  express  wagon  to  be 
delivered  at  the  stores,  and  if  they  are 
going  to  the  commission  man  their 
troubles  have  only  begun. 

There  are,  broadly,  two  rules  to  ob- 
serve. Flowers  should  never  be  put 
into  a  box  crowded  so  that  they  are 
actually  squeezed,  and,  what  is  quite 
as  bad,  so  loosely  that  they  can  shake 
or  move  about. 

Roses  should  not  be  packed  more 
than  one  layer  deep.  Their  flowers 
should  be  sufficiently  far  from  the  end 
of  the  box  that  there  is  n&  possibility 
of  their  petals  being  jammed  against 
the  end.  If  they  have  any  distance  to 
go  there  should  be  a  layer  of  tissue 
paper  between  every  row  of  buds,  and 
in  warm  weather,  with  varieties  like 
American  Beauty  and  Ulrich  Brunner, 
every  rose  should  be  wrapped  in  tis- 
sue. The  box  should  be  long  enough 
to  take  the  stems  at  full  length. 

Small  and  tight  buds  may  have  an- 
other layer  of  buds  on  top,  but  with 
the  choicest  flowers  one  layer  deep  is 
enough.  A  great  many  buds  will  go 
into  a  shallow  box  because  the  flow- 
ers lie  close  behind  each  other.  Some 
tissue  paper  over  the  lot  and  news- 
paper to  keep  them  firmly  in  place, 
and  then  the  lid.  Flowers  going  by 
express,  particularly  where  (as  often 
there  is)  a  change  of  cars  on  the  road, 
should  be  packed  so  that  no  harm 
comes  to  them  whether  the  box  is 
standing  on  its  side,  bottom  or  upon 
end  (which  it  frequently  does). 

Carnations  don't  bruise  so  much  as 
roses,  but  their  petals  get  crushed  if 
crowded  in  and  they  have  to  remain 
hours  in  cellar  or  ice  box  before  they 
get  their  perfect  shape  restored. 
What  a  change  in  the  box  suitable  for 
carnations.  Thirty  years  ago  we 
thought  a  cigar  box  was  handy  to 
carry  a  few  short-stemmed  carnations 
in.  A  few  years  ago  we  had  wooden 
boxes  made,  thirty  inches  long,  and 
now  we  want  a  box  five  feet  long,  if 
it  is  to  hold  any  quantity. 

The  best  flowers  of  carnations 
should  be  laid  in  flat  boxes,  one  row 
of  flowers  behind  the  others,  as  you  do 
roses,  but  they  need  no  tissue  paper 
between  them.  If  you  can  give  the 
flowers  a  few  hours  in  a  cool  cellar 
before  offering  them  for  sale  then  you 
can  lay  them  in  the  box  in  bunches  of 
25,  but  the  less  weight  you  have  on  the 
flowers  the  better  for  their  petals. 

Violets  are  easy  to  pack  and  are 
usually  sent  in  bunches  of  25  and  50, 
all  tied  by  the  "grower  ready  to  retail. 
They  are  often  huddled  into  a  box  a 


foot  deep.  That  may  do  for  some 
grades,  but  the  finest  should  have  a 
box  some  six  or  seven  inches  deep  and 
the  bunches  placed  one  behind  the 
other  and  each  bunch  wrapped  in  tis- 
sue paper. 

Lily  of  the  valley  is  easily  handled, 
and  if  each  bunch  is  wrapped  you  can 
pack  quite  closely,  but  let  each  bunch 
be  reclining  on  the  other  and  only  one 
layer  deep.  It  is  weight  that  express- 
men charge  for  and  not  space,  so  when 
supplied  with  suitable  boxes  it  is  use- 
less to  crowd  and  spoil  flowers  for  the 
sake  of  another  box. 

Orchids  are  not  packed  every  day. 
except  by  a  few  specialists,  but  laid 
on  a  bed  of  cotton  batting,  with  the 
same  material  put  between  the  flow- 
ers and  sufficient  covering  to  keep 
them  from  shaking,  they  travel  all 
right.  Cypripediums  will,  of  course, 
travel  with  less  care  than  the  softer 
flowers  of  cattleya,  odontoglossum  and 
coelogyne,  but  with  plenty  of  batting 
they  travel  well  and  two  days'  journey 
to  them  is  the  same  as  two  hours. 

The  Liliums  Harrisii  and  longiflorum 
are  the  most  troublesome  flowers  to 
pack  and  have  arrive  without  a  grum- 
ble. If  you  let  them  rest  on  tissue 
paper  their  own  weight  will  break 
their  petals,  and  even  if  every  flower 
was  stuffed  full  of  batting  and  every 
flower  surrounded  with  it,  there  would 
be  a  great  many  damaged  flowers.  We 
have  found  the  best  plan  is  to  get  a 
box  of  sufficient  depth  and  across  it, 
say  a  foot  from  the  bottom  and  the 
same  from  the  end,  fasten  a  strip  of 
wood  (an  inch  square  will  do).  Then 
take  half  a  dozen  spikes  of  lilies  and 
bunch  them  up  with  their  flowers  fit- 
ting in  among  each  other  and  fasten 
that  bunch  on  to  the  strip  of  wood  a 
few  inches  behind  the  flowers.  See 
that  the  flowers  do  not  touch  bottom, 
sides  or  any  part  of  the  box,  or  an- 
other bunch  of  flowers.  The  lily  flow- 
ers will  swing,  but  move  all  together, 
and  not  be  bruising  each  other. 

This  principle  we  found  a  good  plan 
when  carrying  lilies  to  town  at  Easter 
time.  If  you  loaded  up  a  hundred 
plants  in  the  wagon  and  let  them 
-  stand  up  singly,  however  mild  and 
quiet  the  day.  they  would  swing  into 
each  other  and  many  would  be  brok- 
en; but  if  half  a  dozen  are  tied  to- 
gether and  cannot  swing  into  another 
bunch,  they  will  travel  perfectly. 

In  packing  the  cut  stalks  in  a  box 
you  can  put  as  many  bunches  as  you 
choose,  but  never  let  one  bunch  touch 
another,  or  any  chance  to  do  so. 

Bulbous  stuff  does  not  travel  well 
when  unexpanded.  You  should  not  at- 
tempt to  pack  them  more  than  one 
layer  deep,  and  lightly  covered  with 
tissue,  but  a  great  many  can  be  put  in 
a  box,  as  they  do  not  hurt  in  the 
least  to  be  packed  tightly  together. 

We  do  not  have  any  more  camellia 
or  gardenia  packing,  and  there  is  a 
vast  army  of  young  florists  who  per- 
haps never  handled  one.  The  slight- 
est touch  of  your  fingers  on  the  petals 
of  a  camellia  would  leave  a  mark. 
You  had  to  handle  them  from  the  un- 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


\6\ 


der  side  of  petals  and  in  traveling 
each  one  had  to  lay  on  a  bed  of  bat- 
ting and  be  covered  with  a  layer  of 
the  same.  And  the  same  care  must 
be  taken  with  gardenias  or  their  pet- 
als will  soon  be  a  dirty  yellow. 

Eucharis  flowers  should  also  be 
packed  in  batting  or  their  beautiful 
flowers  are  easily  bruised. 

I  don't  know  that  there  is  any  spe- 
cial method  for  the  other  flowers  we 
use.  Common  sense  will  suggest  the 
right  plan.  As  before  stated,  the  main 
point  is  not  to  crush  with  over  crowd- 
ing, and  don't  leave  room  at  ends, 
sides  or  top  of  box  for  any  shaking 
or  moving. 

A  few  months  in  the  autumn  and 
again  in  the  spring  are  the  easiest  and 
safest  times  to  send  flowers  on  any 
journey.  The  temperature  is  just 
right,  no  fear  of  frost  and  no  need  of 
ice,  and  during  the  cool  days  of  Octo- 
ber and  November  is  when  our  chrys- 
anthemums are  mostly  handled.  Fine 
flowers  of  these,  like  the  good  roses 
and  carnations,  should  be  laid  out  in 
rows  with  tissue  paper  between  their 
fine  heads,  and  they  are  so  heavy  that 
one  layer  of  them  is  always  enough. 
In  saying  one  layer  it  is  always  under- 
stood that  when  you  commence  with 
the  first  row  of  flowers,  whatever  they 
are,  that  you  have  a  roll  of  tissue 
paper,  or  a  roll  of  excelsior  wrapped 
around  with  tissue  paper,  and  that 
the  first  row  of  flowers  rests  against, 
which  brings  them  up  as  high  in  the 
box  as  the  last  row  put  in,  each  suc^ 
ceeding  row  laying  just  behind  th^ 
other,  separated  or  not  by  a  strip  of 
tissue. 

In  the  hot  summer  months  there  are 
not  many  flowers  going  long  distances. 
When  roses  are  sent  a  journey  and 
the  thermometer  is  85  or  90  degrees, 
lumps  of  ice  are  distributed  among 
the  stems  or  placed  in  the  bottom  of 
the  box;  but  if  much  is  used  it  should 
be  fastened  so  that  it  does  not  roll 
around.  It  is  surprising  how  few 
flowers  we  get  frozen  when  the  weath- 
er is  considered,  but  when  going  a 
journey  by  rail  in  the  winter  months 
always  pack  for  zero  weather.  You 
can't  tell  how  long  they  may  be  on 
the  expressman's  wagon,  and  there  is 
where  we  get  the  trouble,  if  any. 

There  are  other  boxes  besides  pine 
now  used  for  transporting  flowers,  but 
for  very  severe  weather  half-inch  pine 
boxes  are  the  best.  Paper  seems  to 
be  the  best  medium  to  resist  the  cold, 
a  number  of  sheets  inside  and  plenty 
more  outside.  Paper,  if  only  common 
newspaper,  which  is  so  inexpensive,  is 
excellent  for  the  purpose.  We  all 
know,  or  ought  to  know,  that  a  news- 
paper of  a  few  thicknesses  on  our 
chest  will  in  a  cold  time  keep  off  the 
wintry  blasts  far  better  than  the 
heaviest  undershirt  (you  may  as  well 
have  the  undershirt,  too).  Paper  is,  al- 
though thin,  airtight,  and  a  number 
of  layers  will  resist  the  coldest  weath- 
er for  a  long  time.  So  either  in  cold 
or  hot  weather  plenty  of  it  should  be 
used,  and  it  should  be  always  dry.  If 
wet  it  would  be  a  conductor  of  cold. 


The  above  remarks  have  been  most- 
ly suitable  for  shipping  flowers  some 
distance.  The  grower,  and  there  are 
many  such,  whose  houses  are  only  a 
few  miles  in  the  country,  who  sees  his 
boxes  aboard  the  train,  and  Fritz,  the 
express  driver  at  the  city  end,  knows 
them  and  shoves  them  on  his  wagon 
and  soon  delivers  them,  has  not  all 
this  care  and  trouble.  We  know  from 
experience  that  when  we  are  quite 
sure  our  boxes  will  be  carefully  han- 
dled and  promptly  delivered,  our  car- 
nations and  roses  and  violets,  mums 
or  gladiolus  or  asters,  can  be  just  laid 
in  the  box,  giving  them  lots  of  room, 
and  they  will  arrive  at  our  store  in  an 


Roses  are  cut  several  times  a  day 
when  they  are  fit  and  should  be  in 
water  a  few  hours  before  ship- 
ping. Once  a  day  is  enough  to  cut 
carnations,  which  should  be  always 
fully  expanded.  We  prefer  to  cut  (or 
as  some  say,  "pull"  them)  in  the 
morning  and  ship  to  town  In  the  even- 
ing. Violets  we  like  to  pick  towards 
evening  and  put  their  stems  in  wa- 
ter, but  not  in  a  cellar;  under  a  rose 
or  carnation  bench  is  best;  if  kept  on 
ice  or  in  a  very  cool  cellar  they  lose 
all  their  odor.  Lily  of  the  valley 
should  also  be  cut  and  bunched  and 
stood  in  water  in  the  cool  for  twenty- 
four  hours  before  using.  The  stems 


Plants  Prepared  for  Packing. 


hour  or  so  just  as  they  left  the  houses. 
But  very  different  would  It  be  had 
they  to  go  into  strangers'  hands  and 
journey  400  miles. 

The  cutting  of  flowers  is  hardly 
within  the  scope  of  this  article,  but 
here  is  an  opportunity  to  say  that  our 
leading  flowers  should  not  be  cut  and 
at  once  packed.  «if  you  do,  they  are 
unfit  for  sale  in  the  store  for  ten 
hours.  A  cool  cellar  is  a  great  boon 
to  a  florist,  where  he  can  store  his 
flowers  a  day  or  a  night  before  ship- 
ping. I  may  differ  with  some,  but  if 
the  cellar  is  moist  as  well  as  cool, 
none  the  worse;  for  roses  I  am  sure  it 
is  better  to  be  moist;  for  carnations, 
perhaps  not. 


get  charged  with  water  and  last  long- 
er and  are  stiffer.  Chrysanthemums 
can  be  cut  a  day  or  several  days  ahead, 
just  before  they  are  fully  developed. 
Here  again  my  experience  tells  me 
that  if  the  cellar  is  moist  as  well  as 
cold  it  will  keep  the  mums  in  fine  or- 
der. Cut  all  bulbous  flowers  a  day 
before  you  want  to  use  them  and  then 
they  won't  wilt. 

We  are  often  sorely  vexed  at  some 
miserable  breakdown  in  the  very  last 
part  of  the  packing  or  care  of  flowers, 
and  this  is  more  than  annoying.  If 
your  crop  had  failed  at  the  start  you 
could  have  perhaps  replaced  it,  but 
carelessness  or  "thickheadedness"  in 
the  handling  of  flowers  at  the  last  mo- 


162 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ment  is  heartbreaking.  You  have  built 
the  houses,  watched  and  labored  at 
the  crops;  perhaps  through  the  curl- 
ing smoke  of  a  10-cent  domestic  you 
have  viewed  your  Flora  Hill  carna- 
tions or  Marie  Louise  violets  and 
through  a  hazy  but  pleasant  day- 
dream figured  on  the  proceeds,  pencil- 
ling on  the  nearest  plate  or  rafter  so 
many  thousand  at  so  much  per  hun- 
dred, and  all  this  is  wrecked  "by  some 
poor  or  careless  handling  at  the  last 
moment. 

We  are   often   called   upon   to  send 
designs  away  by  rail.     There  is  only 


store,  when  frozen,  they  would  be  use- 
less. 

PACKING  PLANTS. 

Among  the  large  commercial  houses 
of  this  country  the  packing  of  plants 
of  every  kind  and  at  all  seasons  is 
reduced  to  a  science  and  most  admira- 
bly done;  and  still  better,  the  pur- 
chaser has  nothing  to  pay  for  their 
expeditious  work  and  material.  The 
Belgians  are  excellent  packers,  but 
we  have  to  pay  for  their  old  boxes. 
The  English  are  clumsy,  old  fashion- 
ed and  antediluvian  packers,  but  one 


Plants  in  Pots  Prepared  for  Packing. 


,  one  way;  they  must  be  so  fastened 
to  the  box,  bottom  and  sides,  by  wire 
that  they  cannot  move,  and  lightly 
covered  with  tissue  paper  and  pro- 
tected from  frost.  If  any  considerable 
amount  and  the  distance  is  not  too 
far,  it  is  always  more  satisfactory  to 
send  a  competent  man  with  the  flow- 
ers, to  unpack  and  fix  any  little  dam- 
age done  in  transit. 

When  receiving  a  box  of  flowers  that 
you  think  are  frozen,  put  the  box 
without  unpacking  in  a  cool  cellar, 
that  the  frost  may  come  out  very 
gradually.  Many  flowers  are  not  much 
the  worse  for  a  degree  or  two  of  frost, 
but  if  suddenly  unpacked  in  a  warm 


part  of  their  packing  is  not  obsolete 
and  that  is  the  charge  for  boxes, 
hampers  and  mats,  which  are  always 
charged  at  full  price.  Strange  that 
a  people  so  great  in  horticulture  are 
so  old-fashioned  in  packing  a  few 
plants.  Possibly  it's  because  the  Eng- 
lish houses  do  not  export  so  much  as 
the  Continental.  • 

To  this  day  when  two  dozen  gera- 
niums or  calceolarias  or  a  few  bed- 
ding plants  (if  it  was  epacris  or  heath 
there  wouldi  be  more  reason  for  it)  is 
sent  thirty  miles  to  the  Rev.  Arch- 
deacon Slowpay,  D.  D.,  The  Frogs, 
Frogingham,  Slopshire,  they  are  sent 
in  a  large,  round  hamper  that  would 
hold  five  bushels  of  corn  in  the  ear. 


Then  there  are  from  eight  to  fifteen 
stout  hazel  stakes  rammed  in  around 
the  edge  and  brought  to  a  point  at  the 
top,  the  whole  enveloped  by  a  Russian 
mat  or  mats  which  with  a  large  sail 
needle  is  carefully  sewed  to  the 
basket  and  stakes  to  prevent  a  cy- 
clone from  removing  it.  The  whole 
when  completed  would  make  a  most 
comfortable  dog  house  or  council 
chamber  for  a  Lilliputian  king  and 
his  cabinet.  We  must  make  one  ex- 
ception to  these  rather  sweeping  re- 
marks. The  English  firms  who  send 
out  orchids  know  how  to  pack  them 
to  perfection. 

Good  as  our  shipping  firms  are  at 
packing,  the  general  florist  is  not 
called  upon  to  pack  often  enough  to 
keep  an  expert  for  that  branch  of  the 
business  and  sometimes  the  wrapping 
and  boxing  of  plants  is  crudely  done. 

Small  plants,  such  as  small  ferns 
or  palms  or  asparagus,  or  the  general 
run  of  bedding  plants  that  are  not 
wanted  for  immediate  effect,  are  very 
easily  handled.  One  plant,  or  in  case 
they  are  from  2-inch  pots,  three  or 
four  plants,  are  wrapped  lightly  in 
paper  (a  tough  but  light  and  pliable 
quality  of  brown  paper  is  best),  a 
plant  or  bundle  of  plants  is  laid  flat 
in  the  box  with  the  roots  against  end 
of  box.  The  next  row  is  reversed  so 
that  the  papers  that  protect  the  tops 
overlap  each  other  and  so  you  pro- 
ceed till  you  have  the  bottom  of  the 
box  covered.  If  you  think  the  plants 
are  heavy  put  in  an  inch  or  so  of 
marsh  hay  or  excelsior  before  you 
begin  another  layer,  but  if  there  is 
not  much  top  to  the  plants,  as  in  young 
carnations,  then  a  sheet  or  two  of 
brown  paper  is  enough  between  the 
tiers  of  plants.  Always  fill  the  box, 
if  not  with  plants,  then  with  dry  moss 
or  papers,  so  that  the  plants  cannot 
move.  This  way  of  packing  small  or 
medium  sized  plants  where  the  bloom 
is  not  considered  is  entirely  satisfac- 
tory with  the  lid  of  the  box  tightly 
nailed  down. 

In  summer  the  sides  and  top  of  box 
can  have  spaces  left  between  boards 
and  in  winter  the  box  must  not  only 
be  tightly  made  but  well  lined  with 
several  sheets  of  paper.  This  plan  is 
quick,  safe  and  inexpensive  when  the 
plants  are  going  by  express  or  freight 
and  will  be  sure  to  arrive  at  their 
destination  in  a  week  or  less,  but  it 
would  never  do  to  send  plants  this 
way  in  the  hold  of  a  vessel  across  the 
Atlantic,  for  they  would  rot. 

Small  plants  that  are  wanted  for  im- 
mediate use  in  the  spring,  such  as 
geraniums,  coleus  or  cannas,  should 
be  stood  up  straight  in  a  box,  the  ball 
and  plant  always  wrapped,  and  you 
can  generally  squeeze  in  another  plant 
on  the  ball  of  the  lower  plants,  thus 
almost  doubling  your  capacity,  and 
doing  no  harm  to  the  plants  These 
boxes,  however  mild  the  weather, 
should  be  covered  lightly  but  strongly 
a  few  inches  above  the  tops  of  the 
flowers  or  leaves,  or  the  express 
charge  on  them  will  be  just  double, 
and  the  freight  house  will  refuse  them 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


163 


System  of  "slatted"  packing,  first  layer. 

altogether  if  unprotected.  When  the 
express  people  see  that  they  are  grow- 
ing plants  they  won't  dare  not  to 
handle  them  properly. 

A  lighter  and  better  thing  for  send- 
ing these  plants  out  in  spring  is  a 
crate,  which  is  much  handier  than  a 
box.  Make  two  frames,  say  18  in.x2  ft. 
of  2x1  pine,  strongly  nailed;  these  are 
the  ends  and!  to  the  bottom  and  sides 
of  these  nail  6-in.  boards,  any  length, 
and  when  packing  is  done  two  or 
three  of  them  on  top.  Except  for  the 
bottom  to  carry  the  weight  of  plants 
half-inch  stuff  is  plenty  strong  enough 
for  sides  and  top. 

Flowering  plants,  such  as  azaleas, 
can  be  sent  away  the  same  way,  pro- 
viding the  weather  is  not  cold.  If  it 
is,  close  packing  is  necessary,  and 
then  the  ball  or  pot  must  be  secured 
by  strips  so  that  if  the  box  should 
get  a  turn  on  its  side,  which  all  closed 
boxes  are  liable  to,  the  plants  will 
still  remain  in  position. 

Palms  and  dracaenas  of  all  kinds 
are  easy  to  pack  and  very  seldom  can 
we  make  a  complaint  that  any  leaves 
are  bruised  or  broken.  If  the  weather 
is  warm  these  plants  can  be  safely 
sent  by  a  fast  freight  line,  which 


saves  the  high  charges  of  the  express 
company,  but  whatever  time  of  year 
it  is  the  leaves  should  be  brought  up 
close  to  a  stake,  if  stake  is  needed, 
and  each  leaf  carefully  tied  in.  Then 
they  can  be  stood  upright  in  boxes, 
with  or  without  pots,  and  a  frame 
work  built  around  them.  In  cold 
weather  or  at  least  when  there  is  dan- 
ger of  a  hard  frost,  these  plants 
should  always  go  by  express.  The 
price  of  one  palm  may  pay  for  the 
charge  on  the  lot. 

If  only  a  few  they  can  be  laid  in  a 
box,  well  wrapped  in  paper,  and  any 
moving  prevented  by  plenty  of  pack- 
ing material,  but  when  a  considerable 
number  they  are  better  packed  in  the 
same  way  that  we  receive  our  azaleas, 
acacias,  etc.,  so  excellently  packed, 
from  Belgium,  with  this  difference, 
that  while  the  imported  stuff  have 
their  roots  wrapped  around  with  moss 
and  their  tops  entirely  open  and  free, 
the  palms  should  have  their  leaves 
well  wrapped  in  paper,  and  paper  will 
do  for  the  roots,  no  need  of  any  moss. 
The  first  plant  is  laid  against  the  end 
of  the  box  and  when  the  row  of  plants 
is  laid  across  the  end,  another  row  is 
laid  at  the  other  end  with  the  tops 
overlapping.  Then  a  stout  strip  of 
wood  an  inch  square  is  nailed  across 
the  inside  of  the  box  and  firmly 
against  the  ball  of  earth  near  the 
stem.  Then  some  more  packing  mate- 
rial, paper,  excelsior  or  dry  moss,  and 
another  layer  of  plants,  and  another 
cross  strip,  till  the  box  is  full.  No 
plant  can  move  from  its  position  if 
this  is  properly  carried  out  and  there 
is  not  the  slightest  crowding  of  the 
leaves. 

The  azaleas,  which  sometimes  are 
twenty  days  from  time  of  packing  till 
they  are  potted  with  us,  usually 
reach  us  in  fine  order,  and  so  do 
palms,  rhododendrons  and  other 
plants  from  Belgium.  They  wrap  well 
in  moss,  which  is  tied  on  securely  on 
the  ball,  but  the  heads  of  the  hard 
wooded  plants  are  left  uncovered,  and 
doubtless  for  the  long  journey  it  is 
right.  Air  they  want,  and  for  that 
reason  in  a  large  box  of  plants  cross- 
ing the  Atlantic  several  holes  a  few 
inches  square  are  cut  in  the  sides  and 
top  of  box  to  let  there  be  a  circulation 
of  air;  without  it  the  plants  would 
lose  their  leaves.  It  is  mighty  im- 
portant that  these  holes  be  covered 
with  a  piece  of  wire  netting  to  keep 
out  the  ship  rats.  On  one  occasion 
this  was  not  done  with  a  box  of  aza- 
leas we  received  and  a  ship  rodent 
had  made  a  state  room  of  our  box, 
and  from  the  twigs,  and  mince  meat 
he  had  made  of  many  of  the  plants 
he  doubtless  considered  himself  a  first 
class  saloon  passenger.  With  our 
boxes  of  plants  going  by  express  a 
thousand  miles  there  is  no  need  of  any 
air  holes,  in  fact  weather  would  not 
permit. 

Whenever  plants  are  going  away, 
summer  or  winter,  they  should  be  wa- 
tered, not  a  few  minutes,  but  an  hour 
or  two  before  they  are  packed,  and 
when  wrapped  in  either  paper  or  moss 


they  will  remain  several  days  quite 
moist.  The  material  used  for  wrap- 
ping or  packing  should  always  be 
dry;  the  ball  of  the  plant  only  should 
be  wet. 

Firms  like  Veitch,  and  Low,  of  Lon- 
don, take  great  pains  in  packing  or- 
chids. With  cattleyas  they  put  sev- 
eral small  stakes  around  the  edge  of 
the  pot  and  a  stout  one  in  the  cen- 
ter, and  every  leaf  and  bulb  is  secure- 
ly tied  with  cotton  batting  and  raffia; 
a  plant  from  J.  Veitch  &  Son  of  Vanda 
Lowii  10  ft.  high  arriving  in  New  York 
with  scarcely  the  moss  on  the  basket 
disturbed  is  pretty  good  evidence  of 
the  great  care  and  pains  that  are  used 
in  packing  these  valuable  plants. 

Although  our  firms  do  not  charge 
for  boxes  or  packing,  in  some  cases 
it  would  be  quite  proper  were  they  to 
do  so.  The  representative  of  a  north 
of  England  orchid  firm  was  assailed 
with  the  charge  that  the  English 
firms  charged  too  much  for  packing 
and  we  charged  nothing.  This  was  in 
Toronto  in  the  Queens  Hotel  in  1891. 
He  very  naturally  replied,  not  in 


Finished  for  closing  up. 


J64 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


System  of  upright  packing,  ready  for  "closing  in." 


coarse  horse  trading  Yorkshire,  but 
in  genteel  English:  "Yes,  I  know,  but 
your  folks  put  the  charge  on  to  the 
plants,  don't  you  know?"  Now  this 
is  the  natural  and  reasonable  supposi- 
tion, but  yet  largely  it  is  erroneous, 
and  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
nothing  is  tacked  on  for  compensa- 
tion. Packing  cases  and  boxes  that 
answer  the  purpose  cost  us  very  little, 
far  less  than  the  same  box  would  in 
England  or  on  the  Continent,  but  our 
labor,  even  if  it  is  most  expeditiously 
done,  is  higher  than  on  the  other  side. 

If  you  buy  a  good  bill  of  palms  or 
large  ferns  or  any  of  those  decorative 
plants  that  are  easily  packed,  there  is 
no  need  of  any  charge  for  packing, 
and  if  a  man  buys  100  geraniums  of 
us  in  the  spring,  we  are  pleased 
enough  to  put  them  in  a  box,  and  put 
a  few  slats  over  them.  We  get  the 
4-inch  pots  and  that  will  about  pay 
for  packing.  We  would  have  to  cart 
them  off  somewhere  anyway. 

But  when  you  sell  lilies  or  azaleas 
in  full  bloom,  particularly  the  former, 
you  ought  to  get  more  for  them,  for 
they  take  a  heap  of  trouble  and  time 
to  pack  properly.  Perhaps  we  will 
never  make  a  specific  charge  for  our 
packing,  but  there  should  be  an  un- 
derstanding that  to  the  man  who  sends 
his  wagon  and  carts  them  away  a  lily 
is  worth  say  10  cents  per  bud  and 


flower,  and  when  packed  to  travel  40 
miles  by  rail  it  should  be  12  cents  per 
bud  and  flower.  That  is  what  we  do 
every  spring  and  it  about  pays  for 
the  extra  labor  of  packing,  and  other 
plants  in  proportion  where  much  ty- 
ing and  labor  is  needed. 
This  question  will  of  course  always 


be  one  to  be  decided  by  ourselves,  and 
without  any  agreement  must  be  left, 
like  prices,  to  the  discretion  of  the 
seller.  The  man  who  today  advertised 
"cases  and  packing  charged  at  cost," 
would  get  a  severe  blackeye,  figura- 
tively speaking. 

PAEONIA. 

We  sometimes  laugh  at  our  old- 
fashioned  friends  for  calling  these 
handsome  perennials  'Tinies,"  but  old- 
fashioned  catalogues  sometimes  spell 
the  name  "Piony,"  and  that  coines 
pretty  near  it. 

The  cultivation  of  the  herbaceous 
section  is  too  well  known  to  need  any 
lengthy  remarks.  They  should  have  a 
deep,  rich  soil;  you  cannot  overdo  it 
on  either  point.  If  planted  for  com- 
mercial use,  four  feet  apart  is  as  close 
as  they  should  be  placed.  They  will 
flourish  for  a  number  of  years  undis- 
turbed, but  every  fall  a  good  sprink- 
ling of  manure  over  the  surface  and 
forked  or  cultivated  in  the  spring,  will 
help  them  retain  their  vigor. 

The  flowers  of  the  paeonia  are  in 
good  demand  every  season  and  if  you 
have  plenty  of  room  a  few  hundred 
plants  will  be  quite  profitable.  The 
white  and  different  shades  of  pink  are 
the  favorites.  There  are  hundreds  of 
varieties,  and  many  beautiful  ones 
that  are  called  single,  some  being  quite 
single  and  others  having  a  small  dou- 
ble center  with  an  exterior  row  of 
large  petals;  these  are  very  beautiful 
and  can  be  called  the  anemone  sec- 
tion. 

The  herbaceous  paeonias  are  the 
hardiest  of  hardy  plants.  The  best 
time  to  divide  and  transplant  to  in- 
crease the  stock  is  in  October  and 
November,  or  very  early  in  the  spring, 
as  soon  as  the  frost  is  out  of  the 
ground.  A  small  section  of  root  with 
an  eye  or  bud  will  in  three  years  make 
a  large  clump.  When  planting  small 
pieces  in  the  fall,  be  sure  to  get  them 
well  down  in  the  soil;  let  the  bud  be 


"Closed  in. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


165 


Tree  Paeonia  Queen  Elizabeth. 


an  inch  below  the  surface,  for  the 
frosts  will  be  sure  to  raise  them  up. 

Paeonias  seed  freely  and  if  the  seed 
is  sown  as  soon  as  ripe  and  the  little 
plants  kept  in  a  cold  frame  the  fol- 
lowing winter  and  planted  out  in  the 
spring,  they  will  flower  the  second 
year.  For  the  commercial  florist  it  is, 
however,  much  better  to  buy  roots  of 
both  these  and  the  tree  section. 

The  Tree  Paeonia,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, more  nearly  resembles  a  shrub 
and  the  flowers  surpass  in  beauty 
those  of  the  herbaceous  section,  but 
are  not  so  useful  to  the  florist.  They 
make  beautiful  specimens  for  the  lawn, 
either  singly  or  in  groups.  They  are 
largely  used  to  force  for  conservatory 
decoration,  and  are  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  our  Easter  plants,  though  they 
can  be  forced  as  early  as  January. 
For  forcing,  good  plants  should  be 
selected  in  the  early  spring  and  pot- 
ted into  good  sized  pots  or  tubs  and 
grown  the  following  summer;  then 
they  will  force  with  ease  and  satisfac- 
tion the  coming  winter. 

You  cannot  divide  the  tree  paeonia 
at  the  root  as  you  can  those  of  the 
herbaceous  section,  they  being  grafted, 
.an  operation  you  had  better  leave  to 
the  specialist. 

PALMS. 

These  are  our  chief  ornaments  in 
the  conservatory  of  the  wealthy,  or 
the  room  or  veranda  of  the  more  hum- 
ble home.  As  fine  ornamental  plants 
they  stand  pre-eminently  at  the  head. 
For  many  years  they  have  been  grown 
in  hot-houses  and  conservatories,  but 
it  is  only  within  thirty  years  that  they 
became  the  plant  for  the  million.  In 
Europe  hundreds  of  acres  of  glass  is 
devoted  to  their  culture  and  a  very 
.large  area  of  glass  in  this  country  is 


now  occupied  with  the  raising  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  small  palms  for 
the  commercial  trade.  The  writer  is 
one  who  has  never  seen  the  palms 
flourish  in  the  tropics,  but  I  have  seen 
many  species  in  the  Botanic  Garden 
of  Kew,  where  you  have  to  ascend  a 


with  dark  skins,  a  hot  climate,  croco- 
diles and  poisonous  insects,  and  the 
resident  Caucasian  among  them  would 
doubtless  often  sigh  for  his  native  ma- 
ple, pine,  oak  or  hickory,  or  a  handful 
of  his  childhood's  flowers,  the  prim- 
rose, heather,  golden  rod,  or  trillium. 

A  palm  of  medium  size,  say  a  kentia 
with  a  stem  of  three  or  four  feet  and 
perfect  leaves,  or  a  latania  with  a 
spread  of  ten  feet  and  perfect,  is  much 
handsomer  to  me  than  the  large  but 
well  kept  specimens  at  Kew.  Large 
specimens  of  the  cocoanut  palm, 
Phoenix  dactylifera,  Caryota  urens, 
Latania  borbonica,  and  others,  we  can 
remember  as  long  as  we  can  tops  and 
marbles,  but  there  are  several  of  our 
most  useful  palms  that  were  not  then 
introduced. 

As  a  small  ornamental  plant  to 
adorn  the  living  room,  there  is  noth- 
ing, either  in  beauty  or  hardiness,  that 
compares  with  the  palm,  and  it  is 
these  qualities  that  make  it  so  uni- 
versally popular,  and  it  is  a  popular- 
ity that  there  is  not  the  slightest  fear 
will  ever  recede.  Years  ago  fine  speci- 
mens were  grown  to  be  looked  at,  ad- 
mired and  discussed,  and  rarely  seen 
in  small,  uesful  sizes.  Now  they  are 
used  everywhere  and  on  all  occasions. 
Besides  the  universal  use  of  them  to 
adorn  the  lawn  and  veranda  in  sum- 
mer and  the  drawing  room  and  parlor 
in  winter,  they  are  now  seen  at  every 
social  function,  marriages  and  funer- 
als, receptions,  dances,  orations  and 
commencements,  store  openings,  dog 


Latania  Borbonica. 


spiral  staircase  to  get  a  good  view  of 
these  giants  of  the  tropics. 

Grand  and  noble  they  may  be  with 
their  gigantic  leaves  and  plumed 
heads  towering  up  80  or  100  feet  high, 
and  novel  and  majestic  they  must  first 
appear  to  the  traveler  from  the  tem- 
perate zones,  but  they  are  associated 


shows,  and  Midway  plaisances;  some 
of  the  performances  in  the  latter  re- 
sorts being  peculiarly  Oriental,  the 
palm  is  a  most  appropriate  adjunct  to 
the  tropical  dance,  etc. 

Palms  are  widely  distributed  over 
the  warmer  parts  of  the  globe,  and 
the  natives  of  these  regions  have 


(66 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


found  a  use  for  their  fruit.  The  Date 
Palm  (Phoenix  dactylifera)  is  the 
chief  sustenance  of  millions.  The 
milk  and  pulp  of  the  cocoanut  are  a 
leading  article  of  diet  in  all  tropical 
countries.  The  leaves  are  used  as 
thatch  to  cover  huts,  and  the  hard 
stem  is  utilized  for  building  and  in 
many  other  ways. 

Many  palms  do-well  planted  out  in 
the  mild  states  of  our  Union.  We  are 
continually  told  by  tourists  of  the  fine 
chamaerops  and  braheas  that  are  seen 
in  California,  and  that  most  splendid 
palm,  Latania  borbonica,  thrives  in 
the  Channel  Island,  where  only  a  few 


It  would  be  quite  interesting  if  some 
statistician  could  trace  the  annual  in- 
crease in  the  output  of  the  palms  for 
the  past  thirty  years.  In  this  country 
at  least  it  would  (please  excuse  the 
simile)  be  not  unlike  the  career  of  the 
bicycle:  At  first  rare,  and,  when  seen, 
stared  at  by  multitudes.  Soon  those 
that  could  afford  them!  purchased  one, 
then  as  prices  became  more  popular 
the  majority  had  one,  or,  for  a  va- 
riety, two  or  three.  Then,  when  the 
best  patterns  or  varieties  came  on  the 
market  and  manufacturers  and  grow- 
ers turned  out  so  cheaply  the  best 
kinds,  warranted  not  to  break  at  the 


Kentia  Belmoreana. 


degrees  of  frost  occurs.  It  is  this  abil- 
ity to  endure  a  low  temperature  (but 
only  a  limited  number  will  stand  a 
frost)  that  makes  them  of  such  great 
value  to  us  as  decorative  plants,  and 
again,  being  natives  of  some  of  the 
warmest  parts  of  the  globe,  palms  like 
the  kentia  will  thrive  under  the  great 
changes  of  temperature  that  frequently 
occur  in  a  living  room,  hot  to  suffoca- 
tion if  baby  is  cold,  and  down  to  40 
degrees  if  John  lets  the  furnace  get 
low.  This  is  not  the  way  to  grow 
them,  but  it  is  their  nature  to  survive 
these  changes  and  makes  them  our  un- 
equaled  house  plants. 


forks  or  turn  brown  on  the  tips,  our . 
errand  boy  takes  home  to  his  washer- 
woman mother  a  Kentia  Belmoreana 
mounted  on  a  $20  "Rolling  Ranger" 
paid  for  at  one  dollar  per  week,  install- 
ment plan. 

The  raising  of  palms  in  this  country, 
of  the  useful  commercial  kinds,  is  a 
large  part  of  the  business  of  a  few  of 
our  largest  firms.  Formerly  many 
thousands  were  imported,  particularly 
kentias,  but  that  is  fast  dropping  off, 
for  prodigious  quantities  are  now 
grown  here  annually.  Arecas  are  much 
better  grown  here,  and  so  I  think  are 
all  useful  species.  We  may  have  a  cold- 


er climate  to  contend  with  in  winter,  a 
matter  of  trifling  consequence  in  a 
house  or  acre  of  palms,  and  surely 
with  proper  care  and  management  we 
have  the  right  summers.  We  never  see 
such  short,  sturdy,  finely  developed 
kentias  or  latanias  imported  as  those 
grown  here  by  some  of  our  own  firms, 
but  not  by  all.  The  latanias  we  see 
from  Belgium  are  handsome  In  ap- 
pearance, but  drawn,  long  leaf  stalks, 
and  are  only  fit  to  put  in  a  palm  house 
and  grow  a  year  to  accustom  them  to 
the  treatment  that  we  expect  our 
palms  to  endure  and  come  up  smiling. 

The  general  florist  who  buys  his 
young  palms  from  some  of  the  home 
.firms  and  wants  them  to  retail  or  use 
at  once,  as  do  all  storekeepers  who 
have  no  greenhouse,  and  the  very 
great  majority  of  greenhouse  men  as 
well,  will  find  out  (if  that  is  not  al- 
ready discovered)  that  there  are  palm 
growers  and  palm  growers,  and  a  vast 
difference  there  is  in  the  quality  of 
plants  they  send  out.  In  very  large 
establishments,  where  house  after 
house  is  palms,  they  are  manufactured 
quickly,  and  quality  is  entirely  sub- 
servient to  quantity.  They  are  stood 
very  close  together,  kept  very  warm 
summer  and  winter,  altogether  inade- 
quate ventilation  is  given,  and  the 
shade  is  of  the  permanent  kind,  if  not 
kept  on  all  the  year,  then  at  least  nine 
months  of  the  twelve.  The  difference 
between  thesel  palms  and  those  grown 
with  plenty  of  room,  abundance  of 
fresh  air,  and  shade  only  from  the  di- 
rect rays  of  the  sun,  is  very  marked. 
The  former  are  run  up  with  long  leaf 
stalks,  the  growth  is  soft,  and  the  color 
is  a  dull  green.  The  properly  grown 
plants,  even  if  the  temperature  has 
been  high,  are  quite  different.  They 
are  shorter,  stouter,  giving  the  plant 
the  appearance  of  having  far  more 
leaves;  they  are  a  bright  shining  green 
and  are  altogether  more  satisfactory 
to  the  purchaser,  wherever  you  put 
them. 

These  remarks  cover  a  good  deal  of 
the  ground  relative  to  the  culture  of 
most  palms.  For  the  commercial  men 
they  must  be  grown  without  excessive 
heat;  this  is  particularly  true  of 
arecas.  They  must  have  had  plenty  of 
v.entilation  whenever  it  was  possible, 
room  to  develop  their  handsome  leaves, 
and  not  made  soft  by  a  heavy  shade.  I 
can  only  see  one  use  for  these  un- 
naturally grown  tall  kentias  or  lata- 
nias; they  make  an  effective  appear- 
ance at  a  decoration,  but  are  so  soft 
that  a  few  journeys  to  "society"  soon 
deprives  them  of  their  beauty. 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion 
about  the  advisability  of  standing 
palms  in  the  broad  sun.  In  the  tropics, 
as  most  all  of  our  commercial  palms 
in  a  natural  state  rear  their  plumed 
crowns  to  the  tropical  suns,  there  can 
be  little  fear  of  their  burning  if  their 
roots  are  in  the  proper  condition,  and 
I  have  proved  time  and  again  that  if 
their  roots  are  not  too  crowded  and 
they  are  regularly  supplied  with  water 
that  the  kentias,  latanias,  chamaerops 
and  phoenix  receive  not  the  slightest 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


167 


Areca  Lutescens. 

injury  in  the  broad  sun.  If  allowed  to 
get  dry  in  10  or  12-inch  pots,  they  will 
burn,  and  so  will  a  geranium  in  a  pot 
with  its  roots  parched.  The  arecas, 
the  most  decorative  of  all  palms,  do 
not  burn,  but  they  lose  the  color  so 
much  that  it  is  not  well  to  put  them 
out  in  the  sun.  They  are  better  al- 
ways under  glass.  The  phoenix  are 
the  least  susceptible  to  any  harm  from 
wind  or  rain;  in  fact,  they  are  grand 
plants  for  a  vase  or  center  of  a  tropi- 
cal bed. 

Temperature. 

All  the  palms  we  grow,  either  for 
sale  or  for  decorative  purposes,  are 
natives  of  a  warm  climate,  and  al- 
though submitting  for  weeks  to  a 
lower  temperature  than  they  would 
ever  be  subject  to  in  their  native  cli- 
mate, yet  that  is  not  what  they  should 
be  grown  in.  Men  who  raise  thou- 
sands of  young  plants  to  sell  to  the 
trade  must,  to  make  it  profitable,  give 
them  a  good,  high  temperature,  par- 
ticularly in  summer,  although  a  slow 
grown  palm  is  much  better  than  one 
quickly  grown.  A  good  temperature 
for  the  florist  who  grows  or  keeps  a 
stock  of  palms  for  sale  would  be  60  to 
65  degrees  at  night,  with  a  rise  of  15 
degrees  in  the  day  time  during  the 
dark  days  of  winter,  and  in  spring  and 
summer  70  to  75  degrees  at  night  and 
as  warm  as  you  like  in  the  day  time, 
providing  you  have  plenty  of  air. 

Large  palms  that  you  keep  for  deco- 
rations solely  are  better  kept  not  high- 
er than  55  degrees  during  winter.  You 
don't  want  them  to  make  young  leaves 


while  you  are  using  them,  which 
would  likely  be  injured  by  a  chill  in 
transit  in  cold  weather. 

Watering  and  Syringing. 

This  same  old  advice  must  be  given 
with  emphasis  about  drainage.  A 
crock  and  piece  of  green  moss  is 
enough  for  plants  in  a  5  or  6-inch  pot, 
but  when  in  larger,  and  more  especial- 
ly when  in  very  large  pots  or  tubs 
and  boxes,  which  they  may  remain  in 
for  four  or  five  years,  they  should  have 
two  or  three  inches  of  drainage.  If 
water  passes  quickly  through  the  soil, 
whether  the  plant  is  in  a  4  or  14-inch, 
then  the  drainage  is  all  right.  If  it 
does  not,  and  it  is  slow  in  disappear- 
ing from  the  surface,  then  it  is  all 
wrong.  In  spring  and  summer,  when 
making  leaves  fast,  they  want  copious 
watering,  but  usually  when  thorough- 
ly watered,  once  a  day  is  enough.  In 
winter,  with  a  lower  temperature, 
darker  days  and  slower  growth,  less 
water  is  needed.  A  gardener  knows  at 
a  glance  whether  they  are  dry  or  not. 
Palms  in  winter  'want  as  regular  wa- 
tering as  in  summer,  but  with  the 
difference  that  after  a  watering  they 
may  remain  moist  for  two  days,  while 
in  summer,  with  the  pots  full  of  roots, 
they  want  a  watering  twice  a  day. 

Syringing  is  most  essential  to  all 
palms.  First  it  creates  that  moisture 
in  the  atmosphere  so  congenial  to 


Kentia  Forsteriana, 


168 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


their  growth,  and  then  again  it  cleans 
their  foliage  of  insects,  more  especial- 
ly that  nuisance,  the  mealy  bug.  If 
the  house  is  paved  with  stone  or  ce- 
ment, you  should  syringe  at  least 
twice  a  day  in  summer,  and  frequently 
throw  water  about  the  paths  and 
benches.  If  the  floor  is  gravel  or 
earth,  there  is  always  more  or  less 
moisture  arising,  but  syringe  every 
day,  and  when  you  do  syringe,  don't 
hold  and  direct  the  hose  as  if  you 
were  watering  a  bed  of  radishes,  but 
direct  your  fine  but  strong  stream  up- 
wards at  the  underside  of  the  leaf. 
Constant  syringing  on  eucn  palms  as 


ing  retailer?  We  don't  believe  it  is  a 
good  plan  and  would  not  buy  such 
plants  if  we  were  aware  of  it. 

Producing  a  large,  showy  palm  is 
not  the  only  object.  People  who  give 
three  or  four  dollars  for  a  6-inch  ken- 
tia  or  latania  expect  them  to  thrive  in 
the  house  a  few  weeks  at  least,  and 
the  plaintive  cry  of  "My  palm  is  turn- 
ing yellow"  has  robbed  us  of  most  of 
our  hair,  and  we"  don't  want  to  hear  it. 
They  must  die  sometime,  it's  true, 
when  growing  or  existing  in  the  house, 
but  let  them  pass  gradually  away, 
fading  away  slowly,  and  then  their 
demise  will  be  taken  by  all  hands  as 


Phoenix  Rupicola. 


latanias,  kentias  and  arecas  is  an- 
other reason  why  the  soil  should  be  in 
good  condition  to  let  the  water  pass 
through.  In  winter  syringe  occasion- 
ally in  the  morning,  and  when  firing 
hard  damp  down  the  houses,  but  less 
moisture  is  needed  in  winter,  as  the. 
plants  are  in  less  active  growth. 

Soil  and  Potting. 

I  have  within  a  few  years  heard  of 
several  of  our  leading  palms  being 
planted  out  in  spring  on  a  bench  .in 
six  inches  of  soil  and  grown  there  dur- 
ing the  summer  and  lifted  in  the  fall. 
You  can  doubtless  with  great  heat  and 
moisture  produce  a  latania  or  a  kentia 
much  larger  in  the  same  space  of  time 
that  you  would  be  growing  it  in  a  pot, 
but  would  it  be  as  serviceable  a  plant 
in  the  fall?  Would  you  not  have  to 
lift  it  early  and  get  it  well  established 
before  you  sent  it  out  to  the  confid- 


complacently  as  the  departure  of  an 
elderly  wealthy  aunt. 

Palms  thrive  in  a  small  pot  com- 
pared to  the  size  of  plant,  and  should 
not  be  given  a  large  shift  at  once. 
Growers  of  large  quantities  shift  on 
as  the  plants  need  it  at  any  time  of 
year,  but  the  florist  who  keeps  only  a 
few  hundred  had  better  do  his  shifting 
in  the  months  of  March  and  April, 
when  there  is  a  constantly  increasing 
temperature.  Always  pot  firmly.  Up 
to  a  5  or  6-inch  size  this  can  be  done 
by  squeezing  the  soil  with  your  fin- 
gers, but  in  large  size,  and  particu- 
larly if  the  shift  is  small,  a  blunt  stick 
will  help  very  much  to  firm  the  soil. 
Some  writers  say  that  roots  never 
should  be  cut.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
need  of  it,  but  I  have  seen  the  roots 
of  latanias  and  old  seaforthias  chopped 
off  without  doing  any  harm. 

Never  pot  too  deep.  The  base  of  the 
stem  from  where  the  roots  begin  is 


easily  defined,  and  they  should  not  be 
potted  below  that.  Some  species,  ken- 
tia for  one,  raises  the  stem  by  its 
strong  roots.  When  shifting,  lower  the 
plant  to  the  base  of  stem,  but  not 
lower.  It  is  never  advisable  to  shift 
a  plant,  say  from  a  6  to  an  8-inch,  just 
before  selling  it  to  your  customer;  far 
better  let  it  go  in  the  smaller  pot  and 
tell  them  it  will  do  very  well  in  that 
pot  till  spring,  but  give  it  plenty  of 
water. 

Palms  do  not  seem  particular  about 
soil,  and  the  mica  so  often  seen  in  the 
potting  soil  used  about  Philadelphia 
appears  to  agree  with  them  very  well. 
I  would  consider  the  ideal  soil  or  com- 
post for  palms  to  be  a  rather  stiff 
yellow  loam  sod,  cut  and  laid  up  in 
summer,  and  between  every  foot  of 
the  sod  a  layer  of  two  inches  of  cow 
manure.  When  this  was  thoroughly 
soaked,  and  after  a  month  or  so,  cut  it 
down  and  chop  over,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  give  it  another  turn.  By  that 
time  the  manure  will  have  about  dis- 
appeared, and  the  compost  will  grow 
any  palm.  A  good  supply  of  this 
should  be  under  cover  during  winter 
for  early  spring  use.  If  you  cannot 
make  these  preparations,  get  a  fresh 
loam  and  add  a  sixth  of  well  decayed 
manure.  Bone  meal  is  often  used  with 
palms,  and  if  a  quick  growth  is  desired 
it  can  be  added  to  the  compost  at  the 
rate  of  one  pound  to  a  bushel. 

Insects' 

If  a  proper  degree  of  moisture  is 
maintained  and  syringing  properly 
done,  red  spider  and  thrip  is  seldom 
seen.  If  thrip  is  very  persistent,  then 
vaporize  with  tobacco  several  succes- 
sive nights.  Mealy  bug  is  sometimes 
very  troublesome  and  more  often  when 
the  plants  are  crowded.  If  not  re- 
moved by  ordinary  syringing,  then 
have  the  plants  brought  to  some  near- 
by place,  where  water  runs  off  quick- 
ly, and  by  laying  the  plant  down  and 
turning  it  on  all  sides  with  a  sharp, 
strong  stream  they  can  be  washed 
clean  off. 

Scale  is  the  worst  enemy  we  have  to 
contend  with,  and  the  common  brown 
scale  is  much  easier  removed  than  the 
white.  I  mention  these  two,  for  that 
is  sufficient  here,  because  the  remedy 
would  be  the  same  were  there  twenty 
species  of  these  insects  on  our  palms; 
and  there  are  not  only  twenty,  but  per- 
haps twenty  hundred  species  known 
to  entomologists.  It  appears  they  do 
not  multiply  with  anything  like  the 
rapidity  of  the  aphides.  That  is  a  con- 
solation. And  they  breed  and  lay  a 
crop  of  eggs  but  once  a  year.  So  if 
the  palms  are  thoroughly  cleaned,  say 
in  August,  you  should  see  no  more  of 
them  for  another  six  months.  It  is 
often  supposed  that  they  are  without 
the  power  of  locomotion,  but  when 
very  young  in  the  larval  state  they 
creep  about  till  they  find  a  comfortable 
spot,  then  insert  their  beak  into  the 
leaf  or  bark,  and  that  is  their  resi- 
dence for  life.  Entomologists  say  that 
the  ants  which  feed  on  the  excretion 
of  the  scales  take  the  young  insects 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL 


J69 


Livistona  Rotundifolia. 


and  plant  them  on  different  parts  of 
the  leaves  of  palms  and  ferns.  If  this 
is  so,  then  we.  should  get  rid  of  the 
ants. 

There  are  several  means  of  remov- 
ing the  scales  by  washing  with  some 
insecticide,  and  when  you  wash  the 
leaves,  see  that  every  part  is  thor- 
oughly cleaned.  You  can  see  the  large 
scales,  but  the  very  small  might  elude 
you.  Sponge  with  warm  water,  to 
which  has  been  added  two  ounces  of 
whale  oil  soap  in  two  gallons  of  water. 

A  solution  of  two  ounces  of  kerosene 
emulsion  in  five  gallons  of  water. 
Sponge. 

Water  to  which  has  been  added  a 
hundredth  of  its  bulk  of  "Nikoteen." 

A  weak  solution  of  fir  tree  oil  is 
also  recommended  by  some. 

You  cannot  with  any  effect  syringe 
these  solutions  on  the  plants.  They 
must  be  sponged;  and  remember  that 
the  very  young  leaves  will  not  endure 
as  strong  a  mixture  as  the  matured 
leaf,  and  the  leaf  stalks  are  uninjured 
by  a  still  stronger  solution. 

The  following  appeared  in  a  recent 
number  of  a  horticultural  journal,  and 
is,  I  think,  worth  insertion  here.  The 
white  scale  we  get  from  Europe  on 
imported  plants  is  certainly  a  very  bad 
species,  and  although  a  free  trader,  I 
would  put  a  very  high  tariff  on  him: 

"The  sending  out  of  palms  and  ferns 
afflicted  either  with  mealy  bug  or 
scale  is  much  to  be  deplored,  but  the 
number  of  complaints  that  reach  us 
from  time  to  time  would  indicate  that 
some  houses  continue  to  supply  their 
customers  with  a  quantity  of  live. 


stock  over  and  above  what  has  been 
ordered,  much  to  the  detriment  of  the 
stock  as  well  as  the  senders. 

"The  florist  who  would  have  clean 
stock  must  in  the  first  place  keep  all 
his  own  plants  perfectly  free  from 
these  pests,  and  whenever  a  new  con- 
signment of  plants  is  received  take 
such  measures  with  them  as  will  in- 
sure their  being  thoroughly  clean  be- 
fore introducing  them  among  those  al- 
ready in  his  possession.  As  a  preven- 
tive against  introducing  foreign-bred 
scale  or  mealy  bug  into  houses,  we 
would  suggest  the  following  method: 
If  the  plants  are  not  more  than  two 
or  three  feet  in  height,  have  a  suitable 
sized  vessel  filled  with  luke-warm  wa- 
ter, to  which  has  been  added  fir  tree 
oil  in  the  proportion  of  one-half  pint 
to  ten  gallons  of  water.  As  the  plants 
are  unpacked  and  before  they  are  pot- 
ted dip  them  thoroughly  overhead  in 
the  mixture  (excepting  the  ball,  of 
course),  being  sure  to  immerse  the 
plant  right  down  to  the  neck.  Plants 
too  large  for  this  treatment  may  be 
sponged  or  syringed  thoroughly  with 
the  same  concoction.  After  this  treat- 
ment pot  them  up,  syringe  with  clear 
water,  giving  them  an  isolated  posi- 
tion— quarantining  them,  so  to  speak — 
until  one  is  satisfied  that  they  are  per- 
fectly clean.  If  after  a  few  days  live 
scales  are  still  observed  and  the  plants 
are  in  too  large  numbers  to  go  over 
them  by  hand,  take  five  gallons  of 


Latania  Rubra. 


11 


J70 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


luke-warm  water,  add  one-half  pint  of 
fir  tree  oil  and  syringe  again;  or  make 
up  a  less  quantity  and  sponge  them 
with  it.  By  treating  infested  plants 
when  they  first  arrive,  it  will,  be  found 
that  the  pests  can  be  combated  much 
easier  than  if  the  work  is  deferred, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  danger  of 
the  insects  spreading  to  other  stock  is 
greatly  minimized." 

Propagation. 

Palms  are  always  raised  from  seed. 
Of  our  commercial  species  the  cham- 
aerops  and  rhapis  can  be  propagated 
by  suckers,  but  all  our  leading  palms 
grow  easily  from  seed,  which  is  now 
imported  in  large  quantities,  and  it 
must  be  quite  an  industry,  the  gather- 
ing of  the  seed  where  the  several  spe- 
cies flourish.  The  seeds,  which  are 
large  (the  kentia  as  big  as  the  com- 
mon acorn,  and  the  cocoanut  will  fill 
out  a  vest  pocket)  are  sown  in  any 
light  soil  in  flats  or  pans.  A  mixture 
of  leaf  mould,  sand  and  loam  in  equal 
parts  will  do  finely.  Just  cover  the 
seeds,  and  place  the  pans  over  some 
heat.  If  the  compost  is  at  a  temper- 
ature of  75  to  80  degrees,  the  seeds 
will  germinate  much  quicker  than  at 
60  degrees.  Keep  them  moist  but  not 
saturated. 

When  they  have  made  one  or  two 


leaves  at  most,  pot  off  singly  in  2  or 
2%-inch  pots.  Don't  pot  them  too 
deep;  just  to  the  base  of  the  young 
plant.  Keep  close  and  warm  till  they 
get  started  in  their  new  surroundings. 
Young  palms  for  the  first  few  months 
take  up  little  room,  as  they  can  stand 
close  together,  and  I  should  have  add- 
ed that  the  seed  can  be  sown  very 
thickly,  as  the  young  growths  go 
straight  up  and  do  not  interfere  with 
each  other  at  all. 

For  the  first  year  young  palms  will 
grow  slowly  if  kept  in  a  shaded  house 
without  fire  heat  during  summer,  for 
these  houses  get  very  dull  and  cool. 
The  cool  nights  lower  the  tempera- 
ture and  the  heavy  shade  prevents 
the  sun  from  raising  it  in  the  day 
time.  A  hot-bed  with  the  sash  shaded 
will  bring  them  along  fast  in  the  sum- 
mer months,  but  I  would  prefer  a  little 
fire  heat  in  the  palm  house  every 
night  in  the  year.  Having  a  few  palms 
and  orchids  that  I  wished  to  treat 
properly  this  summer  I  have  never 
been  a  night  without  fire  heat,  and  I 
am  sure  it  pays.  This  is  not  forcing 
them  because  we  also  have  the  ven- 
tilators up.  It  is  giving  them  only  a 
genial  heat  and  good  circulation  of 
air.  Young  palms  that  are  expected 
to  grow  should  have  fire  heat  every 
night  in  the  year  and  ventilation  too. 


Kentia  Dumoineana. 


Not  as  I  have  seen  in  some  plant  man- 
ufacturing establishments,  fire  heat 
with  ventilators  shut,  75  degrees  out- 
side and  110  degrees  inside. 

Shading. 

In  this  place  I  might  say  what  I 
should  have  done  sooner,  a  few  words 
about  shading.  I  believe  Mr.  W.  K. 
Harris  tried  French  plate  glass,  and 
with  clear  glass  the  sun  did  not  burn 
the  palms.  We  are  not  likely  to  adopt 
that  quality  of  glass,  as  it  is  too  ex- 
pensive. Ordinary  window  glass  is  out 
of  our  reach  at  present.  Our  double 
thick  glass  which  is  commonly  used 
will  burn  our  palms  and  some  shade 
is  necessary.  I  should  really  think 
that  with  those  firms  who  make  a  spe- 
cialty of  palms  by  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands that  some  portable  or  adjusta- 
ble shading  could  be  used;  perhaps 
it  is  by  some.  We  all  know  the  great 
advantages  of  it.  But  if  it  can't  ba 
used  then  be  careful  and  don't  put  on 
too  heavy  a  coat  of  paint  early  in  the 
season.  A  very  thin  coat  of  naphtha 
and  white  lead  will  do,  and  thicker 
can  be  added  in  May. 

I  often  think  we  are  very  careless 
about  leaving  our  summer  shade  on 
till  late  in  the  fall.  If  storms  have  not 
washed  it  off  you  will  see  frequently 
the  glass  very  opaque  till  early  No- 
vember. Now,  did  you  ever  think  how 
the  first  of  November  corresponded 
for  strength  of  sun  with  the  spring 
days?  The  sun  on  November  first 
would  be  the  same  as  it  would  Febru- 
ary the  10th.  Who  would  think  of 
shading  on  the  latter  date?  And  then 
again  the  plants  are  better  prepared 
to  endure  the  sun's  rays  in  autumn 
than  in  spring.  So  early  in  September 
brush  or  scrub  off  part  of  your  shad- 
ing, and  by  end  of  the  month  have  it 
all  off,  particularly  over  your  palms, 
and  I  can't  think  of  anything  that 
then  needs  shade  unless  it  be  orchids 
in  bloom  or  your  cutting  bed. 

Varieties. 

To  attempt  to  give  a  long  list  of 
palms  is  quite  unnecessary.  There  are 
so  many  genera  and  species  that  even 
encyclopedias  don't  attempt  to  name 
them.  The  commercial  kinds  are 
rather  limited  and  familiar  to  most  of 
my  readers,  but  how  few  these  are 
when  you  consider  the  hundreds  of 
species  of  this  noble  family,  many  of 
which  are  worthy  a  place  in,  any  col- 
lection. In  mentioning  some  of  the 
leading  palms  it  is  not  easy  to  decide 
which  to  place  first,  for  the  graceful 
and  finest  decorative  palm  is  not  al- 
ways the  hardiest  or  best  house  plant, 
the  latter  a  most  important  question 
with  us.  Nearly  every  florist  has  had 
some  experience  with  a  few  palms 
and  has  decided  for  himself  which 
suits  him  or  his  trade  best. 

The  names  I  have  used  are  those  by 
which  we  familiarly  know  them,  and 
it  would  be  little  use  to  call  Latania 
borbonica  "Livistona  chinensis,"  for 
our  customers  know  it  as  latania  and 
they  don't  care  about  a  lesson  in  long, 
crooked  names.  Call  it  the  Chines  a 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


171 


Kcntia  Canterburyana. 


fan  palm  and  they  would  remember  it. 
People  who  don't  know  Begonia  Rex 
by  name  know  it '  very  well  as  the 
"beefsteak  geranium."  That  must 
have  originated  in  the  packing  house 
district  of  Chicago,  but  it's  about  as 
elegant  as  that  invented  by  an  ex- 
horse  car  driver,  a  young  Irishman 
whom  I  set  to  moving  some  begonias, 
and  in  an  hour  or  so  he  informed  me 
he  had  "got  through  with  the  big- 
onions." 

The  leading  commercial  palms  are 
Kentia  Belmoreana  and  K.  Forsteri- 
ana.  These  well  known  palms  are  de- 
servedly the  most  popular  of  all. 
Quick  growing,  splendid  plants  for 
the  house,  beautiful  either  when  one 
foot  high  or  twenty  feet.  Belmoreana 
is  dwarfer  and  more  compact  than 
Forsteriana  and  has  graceful  recurved 
leaves  when  well  grown.  This  plant 
with  light  and  room  to  spread  is  the 
very  perfection  of  form.  Forsteriana 
is  more  erect,  but  similar  in  all  other 
respects,  and  makes  a  fine  palm  for 
large  decorations.  Both  endure  the 
extremes  of  temperature,  but  no  frost, 
and  all  other  unfavorable  conditions 
better  than  any  other  palms,  the 
phoenix  alone  excepted.  Other  spe- 
cies not  so  valuable  commercially,  but 
making  fine  specimens  are,  K.  Baueri, 
K.  Canterburyana,  K.  Lindenii,  K. 


McArthurii,  K.  Mooreana,  K.  Wend- 
landiana. 

Areca  lutescens.  This  magnificent 
palm  is  unrivalled  as  a  decorative 
plant.'  It  has  bright,  shining  golden 
stems,  with  feathery  and  most  grace- 
ful leaves.  It  grows  quickly  and  soon 
makes  plants  of  a  fine  decorative  size. 
They  are  often  planted  three  or  four 
in  a  pot,  but  even  without  that  the 
plant  has  the  habit  of  sending  outside 
shoots  from  base  of  stem  and  large 
plants  are  soon  thick  masses  of  foliage 
crowned  with  the  most  graceful  of 
curving  fronds.  It  is1  not  quite  equal 
as  a  house  plant  to  the  kentias.  Other 
species  are  A.  alba,  A.  rubra,  A.  sapida, 
A.  Verschaffeltii.  All  fine,  graceful 
palms. 

Latania  borbonica  (Livistona  chi- 
nensis).  This  palm  had  been  in  com- 
merce many  years,  before  the  kentia 
and  areca  were  known,  and  is  familiar 
to  all.  Its  broad,  bright  shining 
leaves  suggest  the  use  that  is  made  of 
the  leaf.  It  is  the  Chinese  fan  palm. 
It  withstands  heat  or  cold,  even  a 
few  degrees  of  frost.  It  has  always 
been  a  standard  decorative  plant  as 
well  as  a  favorite  palm  for  the  living 
room.  Perfect  specimens  make  fine 
objects  in  decorating,  especially  when 
placed  in  a  vase  or  where  the  whole 


outline  and  expanse  of  the  plant  can 
be  seen. 

There  is  a  form  of  this  with  light 
yellow  stems  and  leaves,  a  beautiful 
palm  known  as  L.  borbonica  aurea. 

Phoenix.  These  are  not  considered 
as  fine  decorative  plants  as  the  arecas 
and  keutias,  although  as  small  speci- 
mens they  are  most  beautiful.  Yet 
they  are  the  hardiest  of  all  palms. 
They  will  thrive  in  a  vase  or  jar  or 
tropical  bed  in  the  broad  sun  without 
losing  a  particle  of  color,  and  as  a 
house  plant,  among  palms,  they  are 
unequalled.  They  also  seem  to  bear 
the  tying  and  untying  and  the  crowd- 
ing and  wear  and  tear  of  a  decoration 
better  than  any  other  palms  we  have 
ever  handled.  For  any  unfavorable 
situation  that  a  palm  can  be  expected 
to  thrive  at  all  recommend  a,  phoenix. 
Some  beautiful  species  are  not  com- 
mon among  us,  but  they  should  be. 
The  principal  species  are: 

P.  rupicola.  Wide  spreading,  weep- 
ing leaf  stems,  with  finely  divided 
leaves.  A  rapid  grower,  most  grace- 
ful and  most  durable.  A  pair  of  these 
we  have  in  mind  have  within  the  past 
six  years  been  500  times  packed  and 
unpacked  and  withstood  heat  and  cold, 
gas  and  dust,  and  still  stand  today  in 
the  broad  sun  with  their  arching 
fronds  perfect. 

P.  leonensis,  or  spinosa.  Habit 
slightly  stiffer  than  rupicola,  very 
handsome,  with  dark  shining  color  of 
leaf.  This  is  a  species  we  do  not  see 
often  enough.  As  a  small  plant  it  is 
most  ornamental. 

P.  dactylifera.  The  date  palm.  Not 
quite  so  graceful  but  strong,  robust, 
dark  shiny  foliage;  splendid  for  large 
decorations  or  for  summer  ornament 
in  any  position  outside. 

Other  species  of  useful  phoenix  are 
P.  pumila,  P.  canariensis,  P.  tenuis, 
P.  farinifera. 

Cocos  Weddeliana.  This  little  gem 
of  a  palm,  for  such  it  is,  is  now  raised 
in  immense  quantities.  It  has  when 
but  six  or  eight  inches  high  all  the 
grace  and  beauty  of  a  plant  three  feet 
high,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  for  the  center  of 
small  ferneries.  When  these  dinner 
table  decorations  are  returned  with 
the  ferns  dried  and  dead  the  cocos 
still  looks  perfect.  Larger  specimens 


Established  1857. 


Phone  Lake  View  136 


GROWER  AND  IMPORTER 


GEO.  WITTBOLD, 

9  IMPORTER 

Palms 
Ferns 


and 


Largest  Stock  of 
Tropical  Plants 
in  the  West. 

OFFICE  AND  SALESROOM, 

1708  North  Halsted  Street,  -   CHICAGO, 

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172 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


make  fine  decorative  plants  and  they 
thrive  admirably  in  the  dry  air  of  a 
living  room. 

Livistona  rotundifolia.  This  neat 
little  palm  could  be  called  a  miniature 
Latania  borbonica.  It  makes  a  dwarf, 
rounded  plant,  most  charming  for  its 
neatness.  Small  plants  but  eight  or 
nine  inches  high  have  a  great  number 
of  short,  rounded  leaves.  This  little 
palm  makes  a  splendid  table  plant, 
and  in  many  other  positions  in  deco- 


fine  decorative  appearance  anl  are 
not  easily  hurt  by  the  vicissitudes  of 
our  treatment,  and  are  all  good  house 
plants. 

Other  genera  that  are  w.ell  known, 
handsome  palms  and  not  scarce,  are: 

Acanthophoenix  crinita.  Tall,  spread- 
ing, handsome  fronds.  The  steins  are 
densely  armed  with  black  needle- 
shaped  spines. 

Astrocaryum.  A  genus  from  tropical 
South  America.  There  are  several  spe- 


Phoenix  Pomila. 


rations  it  can  be  used  with  good  ef- 
fect. 

The  above  palms  include  the  prin- 
cipal species  recommended  to  our 
patrons  for  conservatory  or  house  cul- 
ture and  used  in  decorating.  There 
may  be  other  palms  equalling  them 
in  beauty  and  grandeur  (Pritchardia 
grandis  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
and  noblest  of  palms),  but  these  spe- 
cies have  been  selected  and  grown  in 
such  enormous  quantities  because  they 
have  the  necessary  qualities.  They 
are  easily  and  quickly  raised,  have  a 


cies.  The  Muru-Muru  palm  is  best 
known.  They  attain  a  height  of  forty 
feet.  The  leaves  are  dark  green  above 
and  silvery  white  below.  A.  argen- 
teum  is  described  as  one  of  the  best 
silvery  palms. 

•Carludovica.  This  is  a  useful  genus. 
Several  of  the  species  are  used  for 
sub-tropical  gardening.  The  fronds  are 
erect  and  stiff  and  the  plant  has  the 
appearance  of  a  small  latania.  Two 
fine  species  are  C.  palmata  and  C.  atro- 
virens. 

Caryota.    This  is  a  fine,  noble  genus. 


They  would  not  add  to  our  list  of  deco- 
rative palms,  but  should  be  in  every 
collection.  They  have  large,  much  di- 
vided fronds,  the  leaves  having  their 
ends  resembling  a  fish's  tail.  Two  fine 
species  easily  procured  are  C.  soboli- 
fera  and  C.  urens. 

Ceroxylon  niveum.  Often  called  the 
Wax  Palm.  From  the  Andes.  Hand- 
some for  sub-tropical  gardening,  and 
thrives  in  a  cool  greenhouse  in  winter. 

Chamaerops.  Low  growing,  com- 
pact palms.  C.  humilis  is  one  of  the 
very  few  palms  found  in  Europe.  It 
has  short  stems,  with  a  much  divided 
leaf,  which  is  long,  narrow  and  erect. 
The  whole  bush,  as  it  appears,  makes 
it  splendid  for  a  vase  in  a  conspicuous 
place,  or  the  very  ideal  plant  when 
two  or  three  feet  high  and  as  much 
through,  for  a  tropical  bed.  C.  macro- 
carpa  is  a  very  robust  species,  fine  for 
any  purpose  where  humilis  is  useful. 
C.  excelsa  is  a  grand,  hardy  palm. 

Cocos  nucifera  is  the  cocoanut  palm. 
It  has  fine  fronds  of  a  bright,  glossy 
green,  but  would  be  useful  only  as  an 
ornament  to  the  palm  house.  Aus- 
tralis  and  flexuosa  are  two  ornamental 
species.  The  handsome  little  Wed- 
deliana  has  received  notice. 

Corypha  australis.  A  low  growing, 
compact,  hardy  palm.  Makes  a  fine 
plant. 

Euterpe.  Tall  growing,  graceful 
palms.  Would  not  be  as  useful  as  the 
kentias  for  decoration.  E.  edulis  and 
E.  montana  are  the  best. 

Geonoma.  A  very  large  genus  of 
low  growing  hot  house  palms.  All  the 
species  are  handsome,  but  not  to  be 
recommended  as  house  plants.  The 
species  gracilis  has  handsome  slender 
fronds,  resembling  those  of  Cocos 
Weddeliana. 

Martinezia.  Medium  growing  palms, 
the  segments  of  the  leaf  resembling 
those  of  the  caryota  or  fish  tail  palms. 
Caryotaefolia  and  erosa  are  two  of  the 
most  useful  species. 

Oreodoxa  regia.  From  Cuba.  Tall, 
rather  slender  stem,  with  large  spread- 
ing fronds.  Before  the  introduction  of 
the  kentias  this  palm  was  in  great 
esteem.  Useful  in  sheltered  places  for 
tropical  gardening.  O.  oleracea  is  the 
cabbage  palm  of  the  West  Indies,  and 
there  are  several  other  species. 

Phoenicophorium  sechellarum  or 
Stevensonia  grandifolia.  This  hand- 
some palm  is  from  the  island  of  Mau- 
ritius and  should  be  always  warm;  it 
thrives  in  a  moisture  charged  atmos- 
phere. It  would  not  be  either  a  house 
or  a  decorative  plant,  but  where  there 
are  the  proper  conditions  for  its 
growth  it  is  one  of  the  most  handsome 
of  all.  H.  Siebrecht  &  Son  say  of  it: 
"It  has  grand  dark  green  fluted  foliage 
of  immense  size,  exceedingly  glossy, 
and  dotted  with  many  minute  orange 
colored  spangles.  The  stems  also  are 
of  orange  color  and  covered  with  long 
black  spines.  Justly  considered  one  of 
the  handsomest  and  most  imposing  of 
the  whole  race." 

Pritchardia.  This  is  a  most  impos- 
ing genus,  but  should  always  be  kept 
in  the  palm  house.  The  leaves  are 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


J73 


large  and  broad,  fluted,  and  a  deep 
green.  The  leaves  of  P.  grandis  when 
well  grown  are  five  feet  across.  They 
make  but  a  short  stem  or  trunk,  but 
send  out  many  of  their  remarkable 
leaves.  P.  grandis  (or  Licuala  gran- 
dis) is  the  finest.  P.  pacifica.  Dark 
green  leaves,  covered  with  a  white 
down  when  young;  a  fine  species.  Sev- 
eral other  species  are  in  commerce. 

Ptychosperma  Alexandrae  and  P. 
Cunninghamiana.  These  are  known  as 
the  Australian  feather  palms.  Tall 
palms  of  rapid  growth,  with  fine  arch- 
ing fronds.  In  general  appearance  they 
resemble  the  kentias,  but  they  are 
coarser  in  growth  and  much  softer, 
and  will  not  endure  the  rough  treat- 
ment that  the  kentia  will,  which  for  all 
commercial  purposes  is  much  superior. 
But  for  tall  palm  houses  the  ptycho- 
spermas  soon  make  fine  specimens.  P. 
Cunninghamiana  was  for  years  known 
as  Seaforthia  elegans,  and  was  twenty 
years  ago  our  main  decorative  palm, 
but  is  entirely  superseded  by  the  ken- 
tias. 

Rhapis.  A  useful  genus  of  but  a 
very  few  species.  The  plants  spread 
and  send  up  several  straight,  erect 
stems,  large  plants  forming  clumps, 
which  can  be  divided,  or  the  young 
plants  taken  off  as  they  appear.  The 
stems  from  near  the  ground  are 
clothed  with  leaves,  giving  the  plant  a 
thick,  bushy  appearance.  The  rhapis 
are  very  hardy  and  useful  for  decorat- 
ing, and  can  be  used  on  the  lawn  or  in 


Areca  Baueri. 


/ 


Verschaffeltia  Splendida. 


the  tropical  garden  in  summer.  Rhapis 
flabelliformis  is  the  most  useful.  R. 
humilis  is  almost  identical,  but  small- 
er. 

Sabal.  This  is  our  native  palmetto 
palm,  which  grows  so  abundantly  in 
our  southern  states.  When  growing  at 
its  best  it  has  a  trunk  of  thirty  to 
forty  feet,  and  leaves  six  to  eight  feet 
long.  There  are  several  species,  na- 
tives of  Central  and  South  America, 
but  they  are  not  of  any  special  value 
to  the  commercial  florist. 

I  have  never  mentioned  the  flower 
of  the  palm,  that  feature  by  which 
botanists  classify  them  into  genera, 
because  we  don't  cultivate  palms  all 
our  lives,  and  grow  them  to  be  large 
plants  without  ever  seeing  a  palm  in 
flower.  Most  species  attain  a  great 
size  and  are  many  years  old  before 
they  flower,  but  true  flowers  they  do 
have,  we  know,  for  we  eat  the  fruit  of 
the  phoenix  (the  date)  and  the  seed  of 
the  cocos  (the  cocoanut),  and  the  seed 
or  nut  of  many  others  are  edible. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  give  my  opin- 
ion that  the  use  of  palms,  great  as  it  is 
at  present,  is  yet  to  be  largely  in- 
creased. The  supply  of  the  useful  kinds 
has  barely  kept  up  with  the  demand. 

The  return  to  the  greenhouse*  of  a 
scrubby  palm  to  be  doctored  or  recu- 
perated is  one  of  the  disagreeable  feat- 
ures of  our  business,  and  must  be  left 
entirely  to  the  discretion  of  yourself. 
You  don't  like  to  offend,  but  you  must 
be  firm  in  this  case.  If  a  plant  is  in 
fair  order  and  the  customer  wants  you 
to  keep  it  while  they  are  away,  that 


174 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


is  all  right,  if  you  charge  for  it  by  the 
month,  as  we  do.  But  when  a  kentia 
or  latania  is  brought  home  with  two 
small  leaves  and  a  diseased  center, 
write  immediately  to  the  owners  and 
tell  them  that  it  would  take  four  years 
to  make  a  respectable  looking  plant  of 
their  palm,  and  the  charge  would  be 
three  times  the  cost  of  a  healthy  plant 
of  the  same  size.  By  that  plain  but 
truthful  and  respectful  information  you 
will  usually  get  a  telephone  order  to 


We  have  noticed  ourselves  plants  of 
utilis  in  rooms  far  away  from  the  light 
of  the  windows  doing  well  if  kept  very 
dry.  When  growing  fast  they  want 
plenty  of  water,  but  if  you  have  to 
winter  them  in  a  cool  greenhouse,  say 
below  60  degrees,  then  be  very  sparing 
of  water  during  the  dark  months. 

They  are  undoubtedly  two  of  the 
most  satisfactory  plants  we  can  sell 
our  customers. 

From  the  fact  that  the  pandanus  are 


Cocos  Weddeliana. 


"do  what  you  like  with  it,"  which 
means  throw  it  away.  If  not,  and  you 
must  attempt  to  make  a  plant  of  it, 
the  least  you  can  charge  would  be  one 
dollar  per  square  foot  of  bench  room 
per  annum  that  its  spread  of  leaves 
occupied.  But  let  us  hope  you  will 
have  very  little  of  it,  for  the  sight  of 
a  lot  of  scrubby,  half  dead  palms?  is 
most  depressing,  and  the  occupation  of 
janitor  of  a  pesthouse  would  be  pre- 
ferred to  their  care. 

PANDANUS. 

For  many  years  past  some  few  spe- 
cies of  pandanus  have  occupied  quite 
a  prominent  place  among  decorative 
plants,  and  this  is  deservedly  so  from 
the  fact  that  the  members  of  this 
genus  in  general  are  not  difficult  to 
manage,  and  are  also  quite  rapid  grow- 
ers under  favorable  conditions. 

The  well  known  P.  Veitchii  and  P. 
utilis  are  two  of  our  very  best  house 
plants.  The  late  Peter  Henderson  on 
passing  a  plant  of  the  P.  utilis  In  the 
hall  of  his  residence,  remarked:  "The 
best  house  plant  I  know  of,"  and  Mr. 
W.  K.  Harris  observed  to  the  writer  a 
few  years  ago:  "Yes,  the  best  house 
plant  there  is,  both  of  them  if  they 
get  water  once  a  month  only."  "You 
mean  once  a  week,  Mr.  H."  "No,  I 
don't.  I  mean  once  a  month." 


natives  of  the  tropics,  a  rather  n'gh 
temperature  is  required  to  secure  the 
best  results,  a  night  temperature  of 
65  to  70  degrees  being  best  adapted 
to  their  needs,  and  during  the  winter 
months  little  or  no  shading  is  needed, 
especially  for  the  variegated  species. 

A  good  loam  enriched  with  old  ma- 
nure forms  a  satisfactory  soil,  and  as 
the  plants  make  many  coarse  roots  it- 
is  found  best  not  to  pot  them  too  firm- 
ly, and  during  the  summer  to  give  an 
abundance  of  water.  If  grown  in  a 
moist  atmosphere  there  is  but  little 
need  for  syringing  overhead,  and  par- 
ticularly during  the  winter  an  excess 
of  water  may  lead  to  an  attack  cf 
"spot,"  if  coupled  with  an  accidental 
low  temperature  at  the  same  period. 

Propagation  is  effected  by  means  of 
cuttings  of  those  species  that  sucker 
freely,  and  also  by  seeds.  Where  side 
shoots  or  suckers  can  be  obtained 
there  is  but  little  difficulty  in  rooting 
them  at  any  season,  this  operation  be- 
ing quickened  (as  in  the  case  of  a 
pine-apple)  by  keeping  the  cuttings 
rather  on  the  side  of  dryness  until 
they  are  calloused,  and  by  giving  them 
a  fair  amount  of  bottom  heat. 

Seeds  should  be  planted  in  light  soil, 
and  placed  in  a  warm  house,  and  the 
seeds  should  preferably  be  set  with  the 
bottom  end  up,  this  being  the  end 


from  which  the  germs  emerge.  These 
seeds  are  somewhat  peculiar,  being 
closely  set  in  a  more  or  less  globular 
mass  that  hangs  down  on  a  stout  stem, 
while  the  individual  seeds,  or  rather 
fruits,  are  compound,  and  often  con- 
tain 8  or  10  germs,  the  latter  being  en- 
closed in  cells  of  a  tough,  horny  sub- 
stance within  the  body  of  the  fruit. 
Soaking  of  the  seeds  is  sometimes  re- 
sorted to  prior  to  planting  them,  but  1 
have  not  found  any  gain  in  rapidity  of 
germination  after  soaking  seeds  of  P. 
utilis  for  48  hours  in  tepid  water. 

The  most  useful  and  most  widely 
known  species  in  cultivation  at  the 
present  time  are  doubtless  P.  Veitchii 
and  P.  utilis,  the  first  named  being  un- 
questionably among  the  best  varie- 
gated plants  for  decorative  purposes, 
while  its  endurance  as  a  house  plant 
depends  largely  on  the  conditions  un- 
der which  it  has  been  grown,  for  soft 
and  sappy  specimens  have  an  unfortu- 
nate habit  of  rotting  off  at  times. 

P.  Veitchii  has  been  in  cultivation 
for  the  past  thirty  years,  and  has 
proved  itself  one  of  the  most  satisfac- 
tory introductions  among  foliage 
plants  of  the  famous  London  firm 
whose  name  it  bears. 

The  second  species  in  importance  in 
the  trade  is  P.  utilis,  a  species  that  has 
been  in  cultivation  longer  than  the 
preceding,  and  is  usually  to  be  had  in 
much  greater  quantities  owing  to  the 
readiness  with  which  seeds  may  be  ob- 
tained and  germinated.  This  species, 
like  P.  Veitchii,  is  native  in  some  of 
the  South  Sea  islands,  notably  Mada- 
gascar and  the  island  of  Bourbon,  and 
on  the  latter  island  P.  utilis  is  said  to 
reach  a  height  of  60  feet,  forming  a 
much  branched  tree. 

The  specific  name  of  this  pandanus, 
utilis,  which  signifies  useful,  seems  to 
be  especially  applicable  to  the  plant  in 
Mauritius,  where  it  is  cultivated  for 
its  leaves,  these  being  used  in  weaving 
the  coarse  matting  from  which  sugar- 
bags  are  made. 

As  a  florist's  plant  P.  utilis  is  most 
useful  in  small  sizes,  for  example  in 
pots  of  4-inch  to  8-inch  sizes,  there  be- 
ing but  a  limited  demand  for  plants 
larger  than  these. 

This  species  is  a  rapid  grower,  and 
requires  generous  treatment  in  regard 
to  soil  and  watering,  and  gives  but  lit- 
tle trouble  in  its  management,  unless 
it  may  be  in  those  cases  where  an  out- 
break of  "spot"  is  developed.  The  lat- 
ter trouble  is  caused  by  the  burrowing 
of  a  minute  insect  in  the  tissues  of  the 
leaf,  and  its  progress  seems  to  be  fav- 
ored by  overwatering.  If  plants  become 
badly  affected  with  this  disease  it  is 
most  profitable  to  throw  them  away  at 
once,  as  they  are  likely  to  be  perma- 
nently disfigured  by  it,  but  light  at- 
tacks may  be  satisfactorily  treated  by 
keeping  the  plants  somewhat  drier  and 
dosing  them  with  sulphur. 

P.  candelabrum  variegatum,  perhaps 
more  readily  recognized  under  the 
name  of  P.  Javanicus  var.,  is  another 
handsome  variegated  form,  and  a 
more  recent  introduction  than  P.  Veit- 
chii, having  been  introduced  from  Java 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


175 


in  1875.  Our  illustration  indicates  the 
very  graceful  habit  of  this  plant,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  narrow  and  pen- 
dulous, and  grow  to  a  length  of  3  to 
6  feet,  the  white  variegation  being 
very  clear  and  sharply  defined  on  the 
dark  green  ground  color.  Unfortunate- 
ly this  plant  is  very  thoroughly  armed, 
the  leaves  being  edged  with  sharp 
spines,  while  the  midrib  possesses  an- 
other line  of  spines  which  are  turned 
the  reverse  way  to  those  on  the  edges, 
thus  making  it  almost  impossible  to 
handle  the  plant  without  getting 
caught. 

P.  candelabrum  yar.  forms  side 
growths  freely  even  in  a  young  state, 
and  cuttings  made  from  these  growths 
root  readily,  but  owing  to  its  abund- 
ance of  spines  it  has  never  become  a 
very  popular  plant  in  the  trade. 

P.  graminifolius  is  one  of  the  small 
growing  pandanus  that  has  been 
found  useful  to  a  limited  extent  in  the 
trade,  being  at  its  best  in  a  4-inch  or 
5-inch  pot,  and  only  reaching  a  height 
of  2  to  3  feet  when  fully  developed. 
This  species  is  of  tufted  habit,  being 
much  branched,  and  having  dark 
green  leaves  about  half  an  inch  wide, 
not  so  stiff  as  those  of  most  of  the 
species  of  pandanus  and  armed  with 
short  whitish  spines. 

P.  graminifolius  is  readily  increased 
by  means  of  cuttings,  and  iu  small 
plants  may  be  considered  among  avail- 
able stock  for  the  centers  of  fern  pans. 
The  illustration  has  been  prepared 
from  a  good  photograph  of  this  plant, 
and  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  its  gen- 
eral character. 


this  species  is  lighter  in  color  and 
slightly  glaucous,  a  well  grown  plant 
forming  a  noble  specimen. 

P.  heterocarpus  is  rather  susceptible 
to  overwatering  during  the  winter, 
and  in  that  case  may  develop  "spot,'' 


tive  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  from 
whence  it  was  introduced  about  1866. 
P.  reflexus  is  another  notably  hand- 
some species,  and  though  one  of  the 
oldest  in  cultivation  is  by  no  means 
common.  This  species  produces  very 


Pandanus  Utilis. 


Pandanus  Veitchii. 


P.  heterocarpus,  also  known  as  P. 
ornatus,  is  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
the  green  leaved  pandanus,  being  a 
strong  growing  species  with  broad, 
dark  green  foliage,  edged  with  whitish 
spines.  The  under  side  of  the  leaves  of 


but  with  a  little  caution  in  that  partic- 
ular there  is  no  special  difficulty  in  its 
culture.  I  have  never  seen  this  species 
produce  suckers,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  the  only  means  of  increase  is 
from  seeds.  P.  heterocarpus  is  a  na- 


long  and  pendulous  leaves,  in  a.  large 
specimen  often  growing  5  to  6  feet  in 
length,  dark  green  and  shining  and 
profusely  armed  with  strong  spines, 
those  on  the  under  side  of  the  midrib 
being  turned  the  opposite  direction  to 
those  on  the  edges  of  the  leaves,  simi- 
larly to  the  arrangement  of  spines  on 
P.  candelabrum. 

The  leaves  of  P.  reflexus  are  so  much 
recurved  that  they  frequently  hide  the 
pot  in  a  well-grown  plant,  and  really 
have  a  very  graceful  effect,  as  will  be 
readily  seen  from  our  illustration,  but 
owing  to  its  ever-ready  armor  of 
spines  this  plant  is  a  most  unpleasant 
one  to  handle,  and  is  consequently  not 
likely  to  become  a  popular  one. 

P.  Vandermeechii  is  a  comparative- 
ly rare  species  that  would  probably  be 
useful  in  the  trade  if  grown  in  quan- 
tity, being  of  somewhat  similar  char- 
acter to  P.  utilis,  but  stouter  in  growth 
and  usually  more  upright.  The  leaves 
of  P.  Vandermeechii  are  broad  and 
stiff,  dark  green  and  slightly  glaucous, 
the  edges  of  the  leaves  and  also  the 

John  Welsh  Young, 

Wholesale  Grower  of 

PANDANUS  VEITCHII. 


Upsal  Station, 
Penna.  R.  R. 


Germantown, 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA 


176 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


spines  being  dark  red,  and  the  same 
color  appearing  to  some  extent  about 
the  base  of  the  leaves. 

This  species  forms  a  very  effective 
specimen,  but  does  not  appear  to  pro- 
duce any  suckers,  and  propagation 
must  therefore  depend  on  seeds.  P. 
Vandermeechii  was  introduced  from 
the  island  of  Bourbon,  and  is  said  to 
be  peculiar  to  that  island,  though 
quite  plentiful  there. 

Among  novelties  of  the  pandanus 
family  that  have  been  grown  to  some 
extent  of  late  years  are  P.  Baptistii 


pointed  leaves.  It  requires  heat  in 
winter  and  does  not  like  the  hot  suns 
of  summer,  or  anything  like  dryness. 
Warmth  and  moisture  are  conditions 
that  suit  it.  It  makes  a  very  pretty 
basket  plant  for  a  shaded  house  in 
summer,  either  entirely  filling  the  bas- 
ket, or  with  other  plants.  Its  varie- 
gation is  very  pretty. 

Its  cultivation  is  of  the  simplest  kind 
as  it  roots  from  cuttings  most  easily, 
either  in  the  sand  or  a  few  pieces  put 
around  the  edge  of  a  small  pot  in  any 
ordinary  soil.  Excepting  as  a  conser- 


Pandanus  Candelabrum  Var.  (Javanicus  Var.) 


and  P.  caricosus,  but  while  both  these 
species  are  attractive,  neither  is  of 
much  value  commercially. 

P.  Baptistii  is  a  rapid  growing  plant, 
the  leaves  of  which  are  striped  with 
yellowish  variegation,  and  in  some 
measure  resembling  the  foliage  of 
Phormium  tenax  var.,  but  without  the 
toughness  of  that  plant. 

P.  caricosus  is  more  dwarf  in  habit 
than  the  preceding,  and  has  narrow 
green  leaves  that  are  but  little  armed 
with  spines.  It  branches  freely,  and 
might  be  briefly  described  as  a  very 
strong  P.  graminifolius,  though  per- 
haps less  useful  than  the  latter  for 
trade  purposes. 

PANICUM  VARIEGATUM. 

A  very  pretty  free  growing,  creeping 
plant  with  white  and  pink  striped 


vatory  basket  plant,  or  for  planting 
in  borders  among  palms  and  ferns  in 
a  permanent  border  under  glass,  it  has 
no  special  value  to  the  florist. 

There  are  several  other  species  of 
panicum,  ornamental,  and  useful  to  the 
private  gardener. 

PANSY  (VIOLA  TRICOLOR). 

Next  to  the  geranium  perhaps  the 
pansy  is  more  universally  known 
among  rich  and  poor  than  any  flower 
we  grow.  It  is  a  favorite  with  all 
children.  "My  little  boy  wants  some 
pansies,"  we  hear  continually  every 
spring.  And  the  old  boy  and  girl  must 
be  made  of  queer  stuff  if  they  are  not 
fascinated  with  the  pretty  faces  of  the 
"Heartsease."  An  M.  D.  of  our  city 
has  written  some  very  pretty  verses 
in  which  he  claims  that  in  the  varied 


markings  of  the  pansy  he  sees  the 
faces  of  the  German,  French,  English, 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  Italian  girl,  and  oth- 
er nationalities  which  I  forget.  He  fail- 
ed to  find  one  that  reflected  the  bronzy 
features  of  our  Pocahontas-like  Indian 
maiden,  the  real  American  girl,  al- 
though there  is  every  shade  of  flower 
and  girl  from  white  to  sooty  black. 
His  verses  were  too  early  for  him  to 
include  the  latest  American  beauties, 
the  Filipino  and  the  brown  senorita 
of  the  Gem  of  the  Antilles.  As  there 
are  several  types  of  our  American 
girls  he  has  taken  a  large  pale  blue  to 
impersonate  the  Boston  type,  and  a 
large  ragged  edged  yellow  with  a 
black  eye  for  Chicago. 

Poets  have  attended  to  the  pansy 
thousands  of  times,  and  the  modern 
sentimental  song  writer  says:  "Only 
a  pansy  blossom,  only  a  faded  flower." 
I  think  this  song  has  something  in  al- 
lusion to  a  lamented  maternal  parent. 
Now  did  you  ever  notice,  good  reader, 
that  the  youth  who  never  or  seldom 
works  but  who  holds  down  a  chair  in 
some  third  class  drinking  place  all  day 
where  a  stray  treat  or  two  falls  to  his 
lot,  and  towards  closing  time  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  treats  has  excited  his 
vocal  powers  and  then  with  a  squeak, 
or  a  rasp,  with  sloppy  eyes  and  ex- 
pression we  are  edified  with  a  few 
verses,  and  it  is  not  a  song  for  the  oc- 
casion, such  as  "We  won't  go  home 
'till  morning,"  or  something  appro- 
priate, but  it  is  sure  to  be  something 
about  "dear  mother."  '  The  gist  of  the 
song  is  sure  to  be  how  he  loves  and 
cherishes  and  works  for  mother,  and 
admonishes  all  to  do  likewise.  Nothing 
is  said  about  father,  but  the  motto  of 
the  house  that  this  young  man  stag- 
gers home  to  is:  "Do  not  worry  father; 
mother's  working." 

The  pansy  has  been  cultivated  in  the 
gardens  of  Europe  for  ages.  If  its  ex- 
pressive features  could  speak  it  could 
tell  you  that  its  ancestors  saw  the 
dreadful  deeds  of  the  dark  ages,  the 
chivalry  but  barbarism  of  the  feudal 
system,  the  oppression  and  torture  of 
bigotry,  the  fight  for  liberty,  the  eman- 
cipation by  education  of  the  masses, 
and  now  at  the  close  of  this  19th  cen- 
tury, in  this  "age  of  reason"  and  hu- 
manity, you  see  the  humble  but  free 
citizen  taking  home  his  basket  of  pan- 
sies to  make  his  little  garden  prettier 
and  to  please  the  children. 

The  cooler  climate  of  northern 
Europe  is  much  more  favorable  for 
pansies  in  the  summer  months  than 
our  hot  and  often  dry  summers.  But 
I  have  seen  beds  of  pansies  here  on  the 
north  side  of  buildings,  with  the  seed 
pods  picked  off  and  an  occasional  good 
watering,  look  fine  the  entire  summer. 
Whether  they  last  longer  than  July  or 
not  there  will  always  be  a 'demand  for 
them,  not  only  in  the  cities,  but  the 
farmers  and  residents  of  our  villages 
buy  them  for  their  door  yards  and 
there  is  where  you  often  see  them  well 
taken  care  of.  I  have  frequently  heard 
Mrs.  Buckwheat  exclaim,  "I  guess, 
Mariah,  you  didn't  wet  them  'ere  pan- 
sies last  night.  I  see  they  be  a  drupen." 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J77 


They  are  raised  in  very  large  quan- 
tities by  some  farmer-gardeners  and 
sent  to  our  cities  in  small  baskets 
holding  one  dozen  plants,  and  usually 
sold  at  the  popular  price  of  25  cents 
per  dozen. 

For  this  purpose  the  seed  is  sown  in 
beds  out  of  doors  the  end  of  July. 
Kept  watered  they  come  along  all 
right  and  make  showy  little  plants. 
End  of  August  or  early  September 
they  are  transplanted  into  beds  four  or 
five  feet  across  and  as  long  as  you  like, 
and  the  plants  three  or  four  inches 
apart.  Usually  with  plenty  of  snow 
during  our  coldest  months  these  strong 
plants  (for  they  are  strong  plants  in 
flower  before  winter  comes)  come 
through  all  right,  and  a  warm  rain  or 
two  and  a  few  fine  days  in  April  and 
they  are  gay  again  and  quickly  start 
to  grow,  and  are  mostly  sold  in  May. 

Last  winter  was  a  scorcher,  and 
when  you  get  two  weeks  zero  and  be- 
low on  bare  ground  it  goes  hard  with 
these  little  plants;  thousands  perished. 
Some  straw,  very  thinly  laid  between 
the  plants  will  help  a  great  deal.  It 
will  catch  the  fast  driving,  drifting 
snow  that  otherwise  would  fly  along 
to  join  the  other  particles  at  the  fence 
row.  Hemlock  boughs  with  their 
arching  stems  upwards  is  an  excellent 
covering,  it  does  not  lie  heavily  on  the 
plants.  Whatever  you  use  don't  put  it 
on  early;  there  is  never  any  harm 
done  till  middle  of  November. 

Florists  who  have  a  demand  for 
some  good  pansies  by  end  of  April, 


Pandanus  Reflexus. 


Pandanos  Graminifolius. 


either  for  those  who  have  the  good 
sense  to  plant  early  or  for  vases  in  our 
cemeteries,  should  sow  not  later  than 
middle  of  August.  You  can  sow  in 
cold-frame  and  shade  the  seed  bed,  but 
uncover  as  soon  as  well  up  or  the  little 
plants  will  be  drawn. 

Middle  of  September  transplant  into 
a  cold-frame  four  or  five  inches  apart, 
and  after  one  good  watering  seldom 
anything  more  is  needed  till  first  of 
December,  or  even  later  if  winter  keeps 
off.  Then  cover  with  glazed  sash,  and 
on  mild  days  in  winter,  which  we  do 
occasionally  get,  give  ventilation.  Be 
sure  in  March  to  give  air  on  sunny 
days  or  your  pansies  will  draw  up  and 
be  useless.  In  fact  on  mild  sunny  days 
it  is  better  to  remove  the  sash,  and  as 
soon  as  frost  is  out  of  the  ground  re- 
move the  sash  entirely. 

The  frosts  of  winter  have  usually 
heaved  the  plants  out  some  so  the  first 
job  in  spring  is  to  go  over  the  beds 
and  press  them  back.  These  plants 
will  be  large  and  give  fine,  perfect 
flowers,  and  you  will  get  at  least  50 
cents  a  dozen  for  them  and  should  get 
more.  When  Mr.  Pumpkin  brings  in 
his  wagonloads  and  sells  at  25  cents  a 
dozen,  and  every  grocer  handles  them, 
you  are  out  of  it. 

If  you  have  forgotten  to  sow  in  the 
fall  you  can  make  a  sowing  in  the 
greenhouse  in  flats  in  January  or  Feb- 
ruary, and  by  pricking  out  in  other 
flats  and  giving  them  the  coolest,  light- 
est bench  you  have,  and  putting  the 
flats  into  a  cold-frame  early  in  April, 


J78 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


you  will  have  plants  to  sell  that  for 
continuous  summer  blooming,  if  cared 
for,  will  be  more  satisfactory  than 
either  your  own  cold-frame  or  the 
farmer's  field  grown  plants. 

Pansy  flowers  are  a  favorite  with 
many  in  the  winter  months.  In  some 
floral  designs  the  blues  and  purples  or 
white  and  yellow  look  very  rich,  and 
when  grown  for  cut  flowers  you  should 
sow  in  distinct  varieties.  For  this  pur- 
pose sow  early  in  August  and  then  se- 
lect the  strongest,  healthiest  seedlings 
and  plant  on  the  bench  in  September, 
giving  them  all  the  sun  and  air  you 
can.  They  are  often  disappointing  in 
not  flowering.  They  must  have  a  light 
house  and  need  every  ray  of  sun  you 
can  get  between  snow  storms.  Anxious 
as  they  are  to  flower  when  March 
comes,  they  don't  want  to  send  up  their 
buds  in  the  dead  of  winter. 

About  45  degrees  at  night  will  do, 
and  60  degrees  in  day  time  if  the 
weather  is  bright,  if  cloudy,  less,  but 
unless  you  can  give  them  a  light  house 
don't  try  it.  The  greenfly  troubles 
them  in  winter,  so  smoke.  Out  of 
doors  nothing  troubles  except  the  hot 
weather. 

In  Europe  where  they  give  the  pansy 
great  attention  and  select  the  finest 
flowers  and  name  them  Captain  Drey- 
fus, Paul  Kruger,  Aguinaldo  or  Wm.  J. 
Bryan,  etc.,  they  perpetuate  these  fine 
varieties  by  cuttings,  which  root  easily 
from  side  shoots  in  a  shaded  cold- 
frame  in  September.  Here  I  have 
never  heard  of  that  being  done.  We 
depend  entirely  on  seedlings  and  they 
are  certainly  as.  we  often  say  in  the 
vernacular,  "good  enough." 

For  large  quantities  the  seed  can  be 
sown  broadcast  on  a  finely  raked  sur- 
face and  the  seed  just  covered  and 
pressed  slightly  firm.  With  expensive 
seed  in  small  quantities  I  prefer  to 
sow  in  shallow  drills  two  inches  apart 
and  scatter  the  seed  thinly  in  the 
drills  and  then  just  cover.  You  can 
quickly  make  the  drill  by  having  a 
rod  an  inch  square  and  pressing  one 
ancle  of  it  into  the  ground. 

The  pansy  is  a  cold  blooded  little 
plant  of  the  northern  temperate  zone, 
and  it  likes  water.  And  above  all,  to 
nroduce  fine  flowers  and  a  good  plant 
it  takes  an  abundance  of  manure.  A 
?ocd  frinble  loam  is  the  thing,  with 
the  addition  of  a  third  of  decayed  cow 
manure,  or  if  that  is  not  to  be  had, 
plenty  of  old  hotbed  manure  will  do. 
If  you  try  to  grow  them  all  summer 
don't  be  sprinkling  every  night  but 
give  them  a  soaking  twice  a  week  and 
be  sure  and  pick  off  all  withered 
flowers.  It  is  not  the  flower  that  ex- 


ROEMER'S  SUPERB 
PRIZE  PANSIES, 

The  finest  strain  of 
Pansies  in  the  world. 
Introducer  and  Grower  of 
All  the  Leading  Novelties. 

Hiehest  award  International 
Exhibition,  Hamburg,  1807. 
Catalogue  free'omapplication 

'FRED.  ROEMER, 

Seed  Grower," 
Quedlinburg,  Germany." 


Roemer's  Giant  Five 
Spotted  Pansy.  K  na- 
tural size. 


hausts  the  plant,  it  is  the  function  of 
bearing  seed. 

There  have  been  innumerable  strains 
of  pansies,  and  no  two  people  fancy 
the  same  flower.  A  first  class  mixture 
suits  the  florist  best,  but  be  sure  you 
get  plenty  of  yellow  and  purple;  they 
are  always  fancied,  and  a  large  flower 
will  always  be  preferred.  One  of  the 
best  strains  I  ever  grew  came  from  Mr. 
James  Fleming  more  than  25  years 
ago,  when  the  firm  was  Peter  Hender- 
son and  James  Fleming.  On  inquiry 
I  found  that  Mr.  Fleming  had  been 
hunting  over  the  markets  of  New 
York,  selecting  a  fine  flower  here  and 
there  wherever  he  saw  one,  and  had 
in  that  way  obtained  a  fine  strain,  and 
that  you  can  do  yourself.  The  best  of 
everything  is  either  nature's  or  man's 
selection. 

The  Giant  Trimardeau  is  a  large, 
finely  marked  pansy,  but  not  of  great 
substance.  Butterfly  pansies  are 
beautifully  marked.  Other  well  known 
strains  are  the  Odier,  very  rich  in  col- 
or; Bugnot's  Parisian  strain,  Belgian, 
German  and  English  strains.  Several 
of  our  own  florists  have  selected  the 
finest  flowers  from  these  and  have  now 
a  strain  that  I  prefer  to  any  of  them. 

PELARGONIUM. 

All  the  familiar  plants  we  know  as 
geraniums  are  pelargoniums,  but  they 
have  been  treated  under  the  name  by 
which  they  are  so  well  known.  Under 
Pelargonium  we  include  only  the  show 
and  fancy  section,  which  is  strangely 
so  often  called  Lady  or  Martha  Wash- 
ington. Possibly  one  of  these  pretty 
plants  suffered  with  the  cherry  tree 
by  that  famous  little  hatchet. 

In  Europe  the  Show  Pelargonium 
has  long  been  a  standard  decorative 
plant,  and  considering  the  ease  and 
short  time  it  requires  to  grow,  and 
their  rich,  handsome  effect,  they  de- 
serve all  the  popularity  that  is  theirs. 
Magnificent  plants  for  exhibition  pur- 
poses were  grown  by  several  of  the 
English  firms,  chief  among  which  was 
the  firm  of  Charles  Turner,  of  Slough. 
Plants  six  or  seven  feet  across,  not 
over  three  feet  high,  and  as  perfect  in 
outline  as  a  well  grown  azalea,  are  a 
gorgeous  sight  and  are  surpassed  in 
showy  effectiveness  only  by  an  azalea. 
Millions  are  grown  in  5  and  6-inch 
pots  for  the  European  markets  and 
some  are  grown  for  our  own,  but  not 
in  such  quantities. 

Great  as  their  beauty  is,  they  have 
these  defects  or  shortcomings  com- 
pared to  the  semi-double  geraniums. 
The  pelargoniums  are  much  more 
troubled  with  aphis;  in  damp  weather 
in  spring  without  fire  heat  they  drop 
their  petals,  and  their  season  of  flow- 
ering is  not  continuous.  Two,  or  at 
most  three,  months  of  spring  and 
early  summer  is  their  period  of  flower- 
ing; after  that  the  plant  makes  a 
strong  growth  without  flower. 

As  a  bedding  or  vase  plant  they  are 
useless  and  to  use  them  for  such  a 
purpose  is  a  fraud  on  your  customers. 
With  all  their  lack  of  the  ever-bloom- 


ing qualities  of  the  zonal  geraniums, 
they  are  far  superior  as  a  decorative 
flowering  plant  and  they  are  frequent- 
ly seen  in  the  windows  of  the  dwelling 
house,  growing  and  flowering  as  if 
they  had  found  the  very  spot  that 
suited  them,  and  if  not  too  warm  the 
perfectly  dry  air  of  a  living  room  is,  I 
believe,  most  congenial  to  them. 

Propagation. 

End  of  August  or  early  September 
is  the  best  time  for  this  country.  The 
cuttings  should  be  from  plants  that 
flowered  the  previous  spring,  and  if 
the  plants  had  been  kept  the  previous 
two  weeks  rather  dry  so  much  the 
better.  When  you  cut  the  plant  down 
for  cuttings  don't  be  afraid;  cut  it 
down  to  within  three  inches  of  the  pot. 
Don't  look  for  eyes,  as  you  would  on 
a  zonal;  there  will  be  any  number  of 
eyes  break  from  the  stems  that  you 
saw  no  signs  of.  Any  part  of  the 
wood  will  root;  the  young,  tender  tops 
or  the  firmer  parts.  Make  the  cut- 
tings with  two  eyes,  one  above  and 
one  below  the  sand.  They  will  root 
in  soil  readily,  as  we  do  our  gera- 
niums, but  I  prefer  to  put  them  in 
sand,  either  in  the  bed  or  in  flats. 
Keep  only  moderately  moist,  and  after 
the  first  few  days  very  little  or  no 
shade  is  needed. 

In  five  or  six  weeks  they  will  be 
ready  to  put  into  2% -inch  pots  and 
should  be  grown  on  in  a  very  light, 
airy  house.  From  the  time  they  start 
to  grow  in  the  small  pots  they  should 
be  encouraged  by  a  light,  warm,  but 
well  ventilated  house,  to  grow  as  fast 
as  possible.  They  will  soon  take  a 
4-inch,  previous  to  which  they  should 
have  had  their  top  pinched  out.  This 
pinching,  or  stopping,  after  they  have 
made  about  three  or  four  eyes  of 
growth  above  the  cutting  is  enough. 
If  a  larger  plant  is  wanted  they  can 
be  pinched  again  in  January  or  Feb- 
ruary, but  they  will  be  later  in  flower. 
I  shall  pause  here  to  say  that  this 
fall  treatment  is  the  most  important. 
We  leave  our  zonal  geraniums  in  2- 
inch  pots  till  after  New  Year's,  and 
if  they  get  hard  and  somewhat  stunt- 
ed no  matter,  but  the  show  pelargo- 
niums want  the  opposite  treatment; 
grow  them  on  as  fast  as  you  can  with- 
out forcing  in  a  moist  heat. 

I  do  not  like  to  advocate  anything 
so  antiquated  as  a  shelf,  but  neverthe- 
less it  is  a  fact  that  pelargoniums  will 
make  a  better,  stouter,  more  thrifty 
growth  during  winter  on  a  shelf  near 
the  glass  than  on  any  bench  I  have 
ever  seen  them  grown  on.  By  Janu- 
ary they  will  be  stout  plants  with  sev- 
eral side  shoots,  and  before  the  end 
of  the  month  should  be  shifted  into 
their  flowering  pot,  a  5  or  6-inch;  no 
more  is  needed.  During  spring  they 
will  grow  very  fast. 

In  watering  they  are  like  the  gera- 
niums; during  dark,  cloudy,  cold 
weather  they  need  very  little  water, 
but  in  the  bright  and  warmer  days  of 
spring  they  will  take  plenty.  Avoid 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


179 


wetting  the  leaves  if  the  weather  is 
damp  and  cool. 

The  soil  should  be  a  good  coarse, 
turfy  loam,  with  a  fourth  or  fifth  of 
decayed  manure,  and  when  they  are 
in  5  or  6-inch  pots,  or  larger,  give 
them  a  crock  and  piece  of  moss  for 
drainage,  as  they  never  want  a  wet, 
soggy  soil.  From  a  4-inch  to  their 
flowering  pot  they  should  be  always 
potted  quite  firmly;  this  is  a  matter 
of  great  importance. 

Pelargoniums  will  thrive  in  a  very 
cool  house  during  winter.  I  would 


quite  small,  say  in  three  weeks  from 
time  you  cut  them  down,  shake  off  all 
the  soil,  shorten  back  the  long  roots, 
and  repot  in  a  size  smaller  pot  than 
they  were  growing  in,  and  start  grow- 
ing with  the  same  treatment  as  you 
give  the  young  plants.  These  old 
plants  need  not  be  stopped  or  pinched 
at  all,  and  if  kept  growing  in  a  light, 
warm  house,  can  be  had  in  flower  by 
April  1st.  They  can  be  used  as  one 
of  our  Easter  plants,  although  there 
are  many  other  plants  that  are  pre- 
ferred. 


Peperomia  Saundersii  (P.  arifolia  argyreia). 


say  that  from  middle  of  November  to 
first  of  March  45  degrees  at  night  was 
just  what  suited  them,  and  50  degrees 
at  night  by  fire  heat  is  enough  at  any 
time.  The  principal  thing  to  avoid 
is  dampness,  and  in  May,  when  in 
bloom,  if  we  get  a  cold,  wet  spell,  es- 
pecially if  there  is  a  shade  on  the 
house,  you  must  drive  out  the  damp- 
ness by  fire  heat  or  you  will  lose  the 
blooms. 

There  is  nothing  troubles  them  but 
aphis,  but  unlike  the  common  gera- 
niums they  are  much  troubled  with  it 
and  must  be  constantly  and  regularly 
fumigated.  Tobacco  does'  not  hurt 
them  in.  the  least,  so  there  is  no  ex- 
cuse for  their  being  injured  by  green 

fly. 

The  old  plants  that  were  cut  down 
in  August  or  September  should  be 
kept  in  the  full  light  but  quite  dry 
for  two  or  three  weeks;  by  that  time 
they  will  have  made  a  great  many 
small  shoots  or  breaks  from  the 
ripened  wood.  When  the  growth  is 


Pelargoniums  can  bs  rooted  during 
winter  most  easily,  but  except  where 
you  are  short  of  some  variety  there  is 
no  need  of  it,  as  you  get  plenty  of 
stock  when  cutting  down  the  plants  in 
August. 

There  has  been  a  great  improvement 
in  the  pelargonium  the  past  thirty 
years,  and  what  is  known  as  the  Regal 
type,  almost  a  semi-double  with 
fringed  petals,  is  very  handsome,  but 
not  so  easily  grown  and  flowered  as 
the  older  type. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  a  list  of  varie- 
ties published  in  any  of  our  florists' 
catalogues,  showing  that  these  plants 
have  been  supplanted  in  popular  favor 
by  many  less  worthy  of  a  fine  name 
and  long  description;  and  it  is  the 
great  beauty  and  grand  qualities  of 
thie  zonal  geraniums  that  have  done 
this. 

Of  the  Show  flowers  we  recall: 
Crimson  King,  an  early  red;  Gen. 
Taylor,  same  color,  but  brighter  and 
an  improvement;  Desdemona,  an 


early  free  flowering  white;  Lord  Clyde, 
scarlet,  with  maroon  blotch;  Retreat, 
rose,  white  center. 

Of  the  semi-double  flowers  some  of 
the  best  known  are:  Capt.  Raikes, 
bright  crimson;  Dr.  Masters,  dark  ma- 
roon; Maid  of  Kent,  white,  spotted 
rose;  Queen  Victoria,  orange  carmine, 
white  edges;  Madame  Thibaut,  white 
ground,  richly  marbled  with  rose,  a 
very  free  and  beautiful  variety;  Mrs. 
Sandiford  is  identical  in  habit,  but  a 
fine  semi-double  white. 

The  fancy  pelargoniums  have  small- 
er leaves  and  smaller  flowers,  but 
born©  in  the  greatest  profusion.  The 
plant  has  a  neat,  compact  habit,  and 
we  have  found  them  to  be  a  grand 
window  plant.  They  want  a  little 
higher  temperature  than  the  Show 
section.  The  best  time  to  propagate 
them  is  in  January  or  February  from 
the  young  growths,  when  they  root 
most  easily  and  will  make  small  flow- 
ering plants  the  same  summer.  They 
want  less  drying  off  when  cutting 
back  in  August,  and  don't  cut  them  as 
severely  as  the  larger  growing  kinds. 
The  Fancy  section  has  a  longer  period 
of  flowering.  They  are  a  most  desir- 
able plant  and  there  is  of  late  a  re- 
turning taste  for  them. 

There  are  innumerable  varieties, 
but  I  am  not  acquainted  with  the 
newer  ones  except  the  grand  variety 
Bridesmaid,  which  with  many  is  called 
the  Pansy  Geranium;  upper  petals  lav- 
ender, lower  white.  It  is  a  most  beau- 
tiful plant  and  we  frequently  see  them 
in  the  windows  of  the  village  home 
flowering  for  months.  Any  of  the 
Fancy  flowers  are  fine  and  the  few 
varieties  of  the  other  sections  men- 
tioned are  merely  what  I  remember; 
there  are  hundreds  of  varieties. 

As  a  bedding  plant  the  pelargonium 
is  of  no  use,  but  as  a  market  plant,  to 
be  sold  to  those  whose  gardening  is 
confined  to  the  window,  it  must  again 
come  into  popular  favor. 

PEPEROMIA. 

This  is  a  very  large  genus  contain- 
ing hundreds  of  species.  Those  best 
known  and  most  useful  to  the  florist 
are  P.  maculosa,  P.  marmorata,  P. 
pubifolia  and  P.  Saundersii  (often 
known  as  P.  arifolia  argyreia).  They 
are  from  tropical  South  America, 
which  stamps  them  as  plants  that  like 
heat,  but  they  endure  a  greenhouse 
temperature  for  weeks  without  any  ap- 
parent harm.  A  pan  of  these  beautiful 
little  plants  is  very  attractive  and  their 
fleshy,  succulent  leaves  enable  them  to 
withstand  the  dry  air  of  a  living  room 
better  than  the  vast  majority  of  our 
plants. 

They  need  shade  in  the  summer  but 
none  in  the  winter  and  should  never 
be  kept  too  wet.  A  lumpy  loose  soil 
with  a  mixture  of  broken  charcoal,  or 
even  broken  crocks,  will  suit  them 
well,  and  a  pan  three  or  four  inches 
deep  is  better  for  them  than  a  deep 
pot.  The  best  specimen  of  P.  maculosa 
I  ever  saw  was  growing  on  a  rock- 


J80 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


work  at  the  side  of  the  path  in  a  palm 
house  where  it  received  plenty  of 
moisture  but  no  superfluous  water  at 
the  roots. 

They  are  easily  propagated  in  sand 
or  sandy  soil  in  a  bottom  heat  of  75 
degrees,  either  by  the  leaf,  as  you  do 
Begonia  Rex,  or  with  an  inch  or  so  of 
the  stem  attached.  Early  spring  is 
the  best  time  to  propagate. 

The  flowers  of  all  are  inconspicuous; 
it  is  the  ornamental  leaves  that  make 
the  plant  valuable.  P.  pubifolia  is 
well  adapted  for  a  hanging  basket.  P. 
maculosa  makes  a  fine  subject  for  a 
pan,  and  the  beautiful  species  illus- 
trated herewith  makes  a  compact  plant 
of  great  beauty.  All  the  species  that 
are  desirable  for  the  commercial  florist 
can  be  said  to  be  of  easy  culture. 

PERILLA  NANKINENSIS. 

This  strong  growing  foliage  plant  is 
useful  for  sub-tropical  flower  garden- 
ing. It  has  very  dark  bronzy  leaves 
and  will  grow  fast  in  a  lower  tempera- 
ture than  the  coleus,  which  makes  it 
useful  in  cooler  summers  than  ours. 

It  is  raised  easily  from  seed  sown  in 
March  and  grown  on  in  3-inch  pots  till 
bedding  out  time.  Like  our  free  grow- 
ing coleus  it  should  be  pinched  to 
make  it  spread. 

PETUNIA. 

These  are  very  popular  plants.  In 
flower  gardening  they  are  one  of  the 
leading  flowers.  It  appears  that  the 
garden  varieties  are  raised  from  the 
species  P.  nyctaginiflora  and  P.  viola- 
cea,  a  white  and  a  violet  species,  but 
in  the  varieties  now  raised  by  selec- 
tion and  culture  we  have  a  great  vari- 
ety of  color,  both  double  and  single 
flowers. 

In  large  beds  where  there  is  much 
flower  gardening  to  do  and  not  a  great 
facility  for  raising  the  plants,  or  where 
expense  has  to  be  studied,  the  petunia 
is  one  of  our  most  serviceable  plants, 
and  for  a  flower  bed  the  single  is  more 
effective  than  the  double.  We  also 
find  great  use  for  them  in  veranda 
boxes  and  vases.  We  have  seen  the 
double  white  used  as  a  cut  flower,  but 
that  day  is  past. 

Any  fine  double  varieties  that  you 
wish  to  perpetuate  must  be  raised 
from  cuttings,  and  the  plants  seen  in 
early  spring  in  4-inch  pots  are  from 
cuttings,  but  for  bedding  it  pays  much 
better  to  raise  them  from  seed.  Ob- 
tain the  best  strain  you  possibly  can. 
I  have  received  seeds  from  a  firm  that 
were  splendid,  hardly  two  flowers  iden- 
tical in  a  thousand  plants,  and  the 
next  year  from  the  same  source  they 
were  nearly  all  that  washed  out  purple 
that  nobody  wants. 

Buy  seed  that  is  sold  for  double  al- 
ways. You  will  only  get  about  40  per 
cent,  double  flowers,  and  that  will 
leave  you  plenty  of  single.  There  are 
some  distinct  strains  that  come  true 
in  form  and  color.  Peter  Henderson 
Co.  advertise  a  strain  called  "Adonis," 
valuable  for  bedding,  medium  sized 


flowers  of  a  carmine  color.  The  Cali- 
fornia strain  of  doubles  is  magnifi- 
cent. The  "Dwarf  Inimitable"  is  also 
a  fine  single  strain,  of  a  cherry  red 
color,  with  white  throat.  There  are 
also  many  fine  double  varieties  that 
are  named,  but  the  great  majority  of 
us  depend  on  a  good  strain  of  seed,  as 
they  make  a  better  bedding  plant 
than  those  grown  from  cuttings,  and 
every  desirable  color  can  be  obtained. 

For  most  places  a  variety  of  color 
in  the  same  bed  is  preferred  when  filled 
with  petunias,  and  they  should  always 
be  given  a  bed  to  themselves,  as  they 
would  give  no  other  plants  a  fair  show. 

When  choice  double  varieties  ars 
kept  over  you  should  select  the  young, 
fresh  growths  and  propagate  in  sand 
before  a  hard  frost  has  touched  them. 
When  rooted  they  should  be  grown  on 
a  light  bench  in  a  temperature  of  50 
degrees.  If  not  allowed  to  get  stunted 
these  plants  will  give  you  more  cut- 
tings, which  root  very  easily  in  winter 
when  there  is  heat  in  the  propagating 
bench.  By  pinching  once  and  potting 
into  a  4-inch  you  can  have  nice  plants 
in  flower  in  early  May.  They  need  a 
small  stake  to  support  them.  Many 
such  plants  are  sold  in  our  markets. 

Seedlings  are  the  cheapest  and  most 
satisfactory.  The  seed  of  the  petunia 
is  very  small.  Sow  in  early  March  on 
a  well  watered  fine  surface,  and  no  cov- 
ering of  soil  is  needed.  Just  press  the 
surface  lightly  with  the  bottom  of  a 
clean  pot.  We  usually  cover  the  seed 
pan  or  flat  with  a  piece  of  damp  cheese 
cloth  till  the  seed  begins  to  germinate, 
but  it  should  be  removed  directly  you 
see  the  seed  starting.  For  a  few  days 
be  careful  not  to  let  the  minute  seed- 
lings get  parched.  Neither  must  you 
let  them  draw  up  with  too  much  shade 
and  heat. 

As  soon  as  the  small  seed  leaves  are 
developed  they  should  be  near  the 
light,  and  45  to  50  degrees  at  night  will 
do  very  well.  When  large  enough  to 
handle  we  put  six  or  seven  around  the 
edge  of  a  3-inch  pot  and  two  or  three 
in  the  center.  I  like  this1  better  than 
putting  them  in  flats.  About  end  of 
April  we  give  each  plant  a  2^-inch  pot 
and  place  on  any  light  bench.  There 
should  be  a  full  exposure  to  the  sun 
and  abundance  of  ventilation.  They 
are  often  put  into  hotbeds,  but  I  don't 
approve  of  that,  as  they  make  too  rank 
a  growth.  In  a  cool,  light  house  they 
grow  fast  enough  and  make  strong, 
stout  plants  in  fine  condition  for  bed- 
ding out. 

Aphis  troubles  petunias,  so  they 
should  be  fumigated  with  the  many 
other  plants  that  need  it. 

A  good  sifted  loam  with  a  third  of 
old  hotbed  manure  is  what  they  like, 
and  if  you  wish  them  to  jump  along 
quickly  in  May  add  a  6-inch  pot  of 
bone  meal  to  every  barrow  load  of  soil. 
Although  the  parents  of  our  petunias 
are  from  southern  Brazil  and  the  Ar- 
gentine, it  must  be  the  high  eleva- 
tions, for  they  want  a  high  tempera- 
ture at  no  time  and  grow  and  flower 


weeks     after     many   of   our   bedding 
plants  are  killed. 

PHLOX  DRUMMONDII. 

This  is  one  of  the  very  best  of  our 
summer  annuals.  There  are  now  mag- 
nificent strains  of  distinct  colors,  and 
where  large  masses  of  brilliant  color 
are  desired  there  are  few  plants  equal 
to  this  dwarf  phlox.  In  very  dry  sum- 
mers they  go  out  of  flower,  so  they 
should  be  within  reach  of  the  hose; 
and  the  dead  flower  heads  should  be 
picked  off. 

For  culture  see  Aster.  In  making  a 
flower  bed  put  the  plants  five  or  six 
inches  apart  as  soon  as  frosts  are  gone. 

PHLOX   (HERBACEOUS). 

These  have  been  included  under 
herbaceous  plants,  but  they  are  worthy 
of  special  mention,  for  they  are  among 
the  best  of  our  hardy  border  plants. 
These  fine  varieties  are  obtained  from 
several  species:  P.  suffruticosa,  P. 
maculata  and  P.  paniculata.  They  are 
not  of  great  value  as  a  cut  flower,  but 
you  will  never  make  a  mistake  in  rec- 
ommending them  wherever  a  hardy 
border  flower  is  wanted.  New  varie- 
ties are  of  course  raised  from  seed. 

The  young  shoots  root  freely  in  May, 
or  as  soon  as  you  can  get  them  after 
the  plants  start  to  .grow,  and  can  be 
grown  in  pots  and  planted  out  in  Sep- 
tember. They  also  divide  with  the 
greatest  ease,  either  before  they  start 
to  grow  in  spring,  or  in  October  and 
November.  No  plant  is  hardier.  There 
are  so  many  fine  varieties  that  there  is 
no  excuse  for  growing  poor  ones. 

PINKS. 

We  are  often  asked  for  the  hardy 
garden  pinks  and  are  often  unable  to 
supply  them.  There  is  now  a  great  vari- 
ety pf  almost  all  shades  of  color,  and 
their  flowers  are  as  large  as  our  carna- 
tions were  twenty  years  ago.  They 
may  not  be  all  quite  hardy,  but  our 
carnation  is  almost  hardy,  and  these 
pinks  with  their  spreading,  free  flower- 
ing habit,  deserve  more  attention  and 
more  care  than  they  get. 

There  are  dozens  of  named  varieties, 
but  without  going  into  them,  we  can 
grow  a  good  assortment  of  colors  and 
the  hardy  clove  pink  is  a  favorite  with 
all.  Her  Majesty  is  a  splendid  white, 
and  Abbottsford  is  an  equally  fine 
pink. 

With  our  continuous  blooming  car- 
nation they  would  not  be  of  value  to 
force,  but  are  most  useful  to  pick  in 
the  summer  months.  They  can  be 
propagated  from  cuttings,  as  you  do 
carnations,  and  either  kept  in  the  flats 
in  which  they  were  rooted  or  potted 
off  into  2-inch  pots,  but  they  must, 
when  rooted,  be  kept  in  a  very  cool 
house  or  cold-frame  during  winter. 
Carnations  root  readily  in  sand  in  Oc- 
tober, and  so  will  the  young  growths 
of  these  pinks.  Planted  out  in  early 
spring  they  soon  make  bushy  clumps. 
Our  garden  pinks  are  supposed  to  be 
the  offspring  of  Dianthus  plumarius. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


181 


POINSETTIA. 

The  showy  Poinsettia  pulcherrima 
is  now  botanically  classed  with  the 
euphorbias,  but  is  still  far  better 
known  to  the  trade  as  poinsettia. 
is  a  native  of  Mexico  and  that  infers 
that  at  no  time  should  it  be  subject  to 
a  low  temperature.  Since  its  introduc- 
tion it  has  been  a  favorite  in  all  col- 
lections of  hot  house  r*ants,  its  bril- 
liant scarlet  bracts  making  it  un- 
equaled  as  a  decorative  plant  in  the 
very  darkest  days  of  winter.  Of  late 
years  it  has  grown  greatly  in  popular 
favor  with  our  flower-buying  patrons 
and  as  the  lily  is  now  known  as  the 
Easter  flower,  the  poinsettia  may  and 
is  known  as  the  Christmas  flower. 

They  are  often  used  for  decorations 
when  cut  with  two  or  three  feet  of 
stem,  but  are  more  satisfactory  in 
every  way  when  it  is  possible  to  use 
them  in  pots.  Although  their  fine 
leaves  soon  drop  in  a  dry  room,  the 
showy  bracts  remain  on  for  several 
weeks,  always  giving  the  purchaser 
good  value,  and  as  it  is  one  of  those 
plants  which  we  never  get  returned 
"to  keep  for  another  season"  it  is 
satisfactory  and  profitable  to  grow, 
more  so  than  the  majority  of  plants 
we  handle. 

Old    plants   that   have   rested    from 
January  to  April   or   May   should  be 
shaken  out  clean  of  any  old  soil,  pot- 
ted into  4,  5  or  6-inch  pots  as  their 
size  may  require,  the  shoot  or  shoots 
shortened  back  only     to     the  sound 
wood.     Place  in  a  warm,  light  house 
and   syringe   daily.     In   four   or    five 
weeks  there  will  be  a  crop  of  cuttings. 
In  taking  off  the  cuttings  leave  one 
young  eye  at  the  old  stem  so  that  an- 
other break  will  give  you  another  lot 
of  cuttings.    As  most  of  your  cuttings 
will  go  into  the  sand  after  you  have 
discontinued  firing,  there  will  be  no 
bottom    heat;    so    the   cuttings    want 
shade  and  the  sand  must  have  a  thor- 
ough  soaking  twice  a  day   in   warm 
weather.     In  about  three   weeks   the 
cuttings  will  be  rooted.    Lift  carefully 
from  the  sand  and  pot  into  2%  or  3- 
inch  pots.     For  the  first  few  days,  or 
till  the  young  plants  begin  to  make 
roots   in    the    soil,    keep    shaded    and 
moist   by  frequent  syringing.     When 
once  they  have  got  hold  of  the  soil 
they  want  the  fullest  light,  and  in  the 
warm    months    the    greatest   possible 
amount  of  fresh  air. 

The  old  plants  that  you  are  propa- 
gating from  can  after  June  1st  be 
plunged  outside,  and  cuttings  taken 
from  outside  growth  make  better 
plants  than  those  grown  inside.  You 
can  propagate  at  intervals  till  the  mid- 
dle of  August,  the  last  struck  making 
fine  dwarf  plants.  We  seldom  make 
use  of  the  old  plants,  but  shifted  on  in 
September  and  given  plenty  of  heat 
and  light  they  will  give  you  a  number 
of  medium  sized  flowers. 

The  main  object  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  poinsettia  is  to  obtain  a  stocky, 
sturdy  plant,  retaining  all  its  fine  foli- 
age, as  dwarf  as  possible,  but  crowned 


with  a  fine  head  of  what  the  public  call 
the  bloom.  Two  shifts  are  enough; 
from  the  2%  to  a  4-inch,  and  from  that 
to  their  flowering  pot,  a  6-inch  or  in 
later  struck  plants  a  5-inch.  Batches  of 
cuttings  can  be  taken  off  at  intervals 
from  May  1  to  end  of  August,  the  very 
latest  propagation  often  making  most 
useful  little  plants. 

The  poinsettia  is  very  unsightly 
without  its  large  handsome  leaves,  and 
these  are  too  often  seen  drooping  and 
yellow  or  entirely  absent  at  Christmas 
time  just  when  the  plant  should  be  at 
its  best.  There  are  three  causes  for 
this:  First,  a  low  temperature  (60  de- 
grees at  night  is  the  lowest  they 
should  ever  be) ;  second,  starvation  at 
the  roots,  either  through  an  impover- 
ished soil  or  insufficient  root  room, 
and  thirdly,  as  common  a  cause  as 
any,  their  roots  being  disturbed  after 
they  begin  to  form  their  bracts.  A 
very  important  point  to  remember  is 
that  they  should  have  their  last  shift 
never  later  than  the  middle  of  Octo- 
ber and  two  weeks  earlier  is  better. 
They  cannot  endure  having  their 
roots  disturbed  in  the  least  when  near 
their  flowering  period. 

The  best  soil  for  them  is  two-thirds 
of  rather  heavy  turfy  loam,  with  one- 
third  of  well  rotted  cow  manure,  and 
at  the  last  shift  add  one  pint  of  bone 
flour  to  one  bushel  of  compost.  They 
are  very  liable  to  be  troubled  with 
mealy  bug,  which  infests  their  flower 
umbel  proper,  but  if  syringed  daily  as 
they  should  be  they  are  easily  kept 
down.  Greenfly  also  attacks  them  if 
regular  fumigation  is  neglected. 

If  very  large  bracts  on  5  to  6-foot 
stems  are  desired,  you  can  plant  out  in 
6  inches  of  rich  soil  some  thrifty 
young  plants  in  August.  In  this;  way 
you  can  get  bracts  20  to  24  inches 
across. 

Plants  unsold,  or  those  you  cut  for 
the  flower,  should  be  stored  away  in 
January  either  in  a  warm  shed  or  be- 
neath a  bench  where  not  a  drop  of 
water  will  touch  them,  and  allowed  to 
rest  perfectly  dry  till  started  again  the 
following  May. 

There  is  a  so-called  white  variety 
seen  occasionally  which  is  certainly 
not  worth  sgrowing,  and  there  is  a  va- 
riety called  P.  p.  plenissima,  or  com- 
monly called  the  double.  It  is  with 
me  about  ten  days  later  than  the  type, 
but  it  is  very  intense  in  color,  stands 
travel  and  handling  better  and  al- 
though not  making  such"  a  wide  stretch 
of  bracts  is  most  desirable  in  every 


way. 


POTTING. 


There  is  no  chapter  in  this  book  that 
I  have  started  into  with  such  a  relish 
as  this  one.  It  is  a  treat.  It  is  better 
than  falling  off  a  log.  It  is  an  ice- 
cream soda  and  a  15-cent  cigar.  It  is 
more  than  equal  to  seeing  the  High- 
land fling  danced  for  the  three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fifty-sixth 
time. 

There  is  a  good  display  of  egotism 
in  it,  because  the  writer  thinks  he 


knows  how  to  pot,  and  he  has  seen  a 
great  many  that  did  not  and  never 
seem  to  learn.  Some  will  say:  "There 
is  a  man  who  thinks  nobody  can  do  a 
thing  right  but  himself."  I  beg  your 
pardon;  that  is  not  so,  for  I  Have 
seen  many  young  men  who  began  to 
pot  and  shift  plants  when  they  were 
15  years  old  and  made  experts  at  it, 
but  when  over  20  they  seldom  learn 
to  perform  this  important  operation 
properly,  which  must  combine  both" 
speed  and  proficiency. 

Our  business  is  both  mental  and  me- 
chanical, and  a  good  mingling  of  the 
two.  It  is  the  mental  that  saes  at  a 
glance  that  a  plant  needs  shifting  and 
the  size  shift  or  pot  it  wants.  It  is  the 
mechanical  that  expertly  shifts  the 
plant  from  the  3  to  the  4-inch,  because 
he  has  learned  it,  and  it  is  not  the 
slightest  effort  of  the  brain  to  do  it 
right.  It  would  be  an  effort  to  do  it 
any  other  way. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  potting  and 
shifting  is  the  most  important  mechan- 
ical operation  in  our  commercial 
houses,  and  any  young  man  who  is 
really  a  quick  and  good  hand  at  it  can 
always  get  a  job,  but  how  few  there 
are  when  you  want  them.  A  Jaggs  or 
a  Baggs  or  a  Raggs,  if  known  to  be  an 
expert  at  this  operation,  would  often 
get  a  favorable  answer  to  his  question, 
"^ave  ye  got  a  job,  sir?"  instead  of  an 
evasive  answer,  even  if  he  were  known 
to  have  laudable  loving  for  exploring 
all  horticultural  centers.  We  must  put 
up  with  a  slow  gait  sometimes,  but  I 
have  suffered  more  than  once  by  right 
down  bad  and  careless  potting;  care- 
lessness is  not  the  word,  it  is  right 
down  stupidness,  thick-headedness, 
with  awkward  handedness. 

It  is  no  good  telling  you  how  not  to 
do  it,  but  still  I  can  convey  some 
points  by  describing  what  I  have  often 
seen  in  the  shape  of  potting,  which 
causes  itching  of  the  skin  and  the 
mastication  of  a  large  lump  of  profan- 
ity that  has  to  be  swallowed  instead 
of  coloring  the  atmosphere. 

You  will  see  a  man  take  hold  of  a 
cutting  between  his  finger  and  thumb 
by  the  top  of  the  shoot,  and  suspend 
it  in  the  little  pot,  then  fill  up  the  pot 
heaping  full  and  then  begin  to  thumb 
all  around  on  the  surface.  Then  the 
same  man  or  his  class  will  take  a 
plant  that  has  come  out  of  a  3-inch  and 
after  putting  half  an  inch  of  soil  in 
the  bottom  of  a  4-inch,  set  the  plant 
in  with  the  old  ball  one  inch  down  the 
new  pot,  then  a  big  handful  ofi  soil  is 
thrown  on  the  top  and  the  thumbing 
commences  again  with  several  revolu- 
tions of  the  pot  and  a  few  extra  pres- 
sures of  the  thumb. 

If  you  will  knock  out  the  2-inch  first 
described  you  will  find  that  near  the 
bottom,  where  the  soil  should  be  com- 
pact around  the  roots,  it  is  loose,  but 
firm  on  the  surface,  where  you  don't 
want  it  so.  And  if  you  will  knock  out 
the  4-inch  you  will  find  the  first  inch 
quite  solid,  but  lower  down  where  the 
roots  are  you  will  find  spaces  between 


J82 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


the  old  ball  an<d  the  pot,  which  I  have 
learned  to  call,  when  exhibiting  them 
to  a  workman,  "mouse's  nests,"  for  I 
have  found  the  cavities  large  enough 
to  domicile  a  little  rodent. 

When  potting  see  that  your  soil  is 
in  just  the  right  consistency.  It  should 
never  be  too  dry,  and  to  be  wet  and 
sticky  would  be  ruination.  Some  one, 
perhaps  Mr.  Henderson,  described  it 
admirably  when  he  said  it  should  be 
•in  such  condition  that  you  could 
squeeze  up  a  handful  and  it  would  ad- 
here in  a  lump,  but  when  thrown  on 
the  bench  it  would  crumble  to  pieces. 
That  is  just  about  the  same  condition 
so  dear  to  the  eye  and  heart  of  a  farm- 
er when  plowing  his  clay  loam  in  the 
spring,  when  it  falls  back  from  the 
plowshare  in  flaky  particles. 

In  the  old  country,  so  called  (this 
is  the  oldest,  geologically,  by  some  odd 
billions  of  years)  we  were  taught  to 
sprinkle  the  new  pots  before  using 
them,  and  although  it  is  disregarded 
in  our  hurry,  it  is,  I  am  sure,  an  ex- 
cellent plan  to  dip  all  new  pots  a  mo- 
ment or  two.  We  are  also  taught  in 
Europe  to  wash  all  pots  before  being 
used  again.  This  is  a  good  thing  to  do 
when  you  have  the  time,  but  we  never 
seem  to  have  the  time,  so  we  put  them 
out  of  doors  in  summer  when  out  of 
use.  If  you  have  a  field  and  can 
spread  them  out  the  rains  will  do  much 
to  wash  the  outsides,  but  if  the  cows 
walk  over  them  or  children  play  ball 
with  them  it  is  somewhat  expensive. 
Piled  up  in  neat  •  rows  with  some 
boards  for  a  foundation  does  us  very 
well,  for  then  they  get  thoroughly  dry, 
and  when  wanted  for  use  a  coarse  wad 
of  cloth  will  give  them  what  Nicholas 
Nickleby  had  to  put  up  with  the  morn- 
ing after  his  arrival  at  Dotheboy's 
Hall,  "a  dry  rub."  This  dry  rub  will 
clean  them  inside  near  enough  for  most 
all  of  our  common  plants. 

The  very  worst  place  for  storing 
pots  is  under  a  wet  bench,  where  they 
get  so  saturated  that  they  must  be  in 
poor  condition,  for  although  the  water 
we  give  our  plants  does  not  all  go  out 
through  the  porous  pots,  as  somebody 
said  it  did,  yet  it  is  well  to  have  as 
much  of  the  porous  quality  as  we  can 
get  There  is  considerable  humbug 
about  porous  pots,  however,  and  we 
do  not  attach  much  importance  to  it 
because  we  see  plants  thriving  in  a 
green  painted  pine  tub,  which  is  no 
more  porous  than  our  neighbors'  pie 
crust. 

It  is  a  great  benefit  to  have  our  flower 
pots  and  pans  all  of  one  standard 
make,  and,  better  still,  to  have  one 
maker's  make.  The  breakage  of  pots 
in  the  old  days  of  hand  made  pots  was 
terrific,  and  we  should  squeal  awfully 
had  we  the  same  amount  to  lay  out  for 
good  potting  soil. 

It  is  difficult  to  attempt  to  give  any 
instructions  on  how  to  pot  or  shift  a 
plant,  but  a  few  hints  will  suffice. 

To  begin  with  a  rooted  cutting.  If 
the  roots  are  small  the  pot  can  be 
filled  to  overflowing  with  soil  and  one 


dab  of  the  forefinger  makes  a  hole  big 
enough  to  put  in  the  plant;  or  if  the 
roots  are  too  long  for  that,  hold  the 
plant  with  the  two  first  fingers  and 
thumb  and  fill  up  with  one  handful  of 
soil,  then  with  the  thumb  and  first 
finger  of  the  left  hand  and  first  finger 
of  the  right  hand  run  into  the  soil  per- 
pendicularly on  three  sides  of  the 
plant,  you  have  well  firmed  the  soil 
around  the  roots,  where  it  ought  to  be 
firm,  and  as  you  pass  the  plant  into  a 
flat  a  rap  will  settle  the  soil  and  the 
first  watering  will  do  yie  rest. 

You  ought  to  learn  to  seize  the  plant 
with  one  hand  and  the  pot  with  the 
other.  A  good  hand  at  this  light  job 
with  cuttings  that  are  easy  to  handle, 
and  has  his  pots  and  plants  brought  to 
him  and  carried  away,  ought  to  pot 
easily  500  an  hour. 

When  it  conies  to  shifting  a  2-inch 
to  a  3-inch,  or  a  3-inch  to  a  4-inch, 
you  should  hold  the  plant  by  the  stem, 
letting  your  little  finger  rest  a  moment 
on  the  edge  of  the  pot,  fill  the  pot 
nearly  a  third  full,  and  then  lean  the 
plant  towards  you  and  put  in  some 
soil,  give  the  pot  jusc  one  half  turn 
and  lean  the  plant  again  towards  you 
and  fill  up  the  other  side,  and  then 
squeeze  the  ball  hard  down;  another 
rap,  and  the  shift  is  done.  Now,  by 
this  method  you  have  gotten  the  soil 
solid  all  around  the  ball,  firmer  near 
the  bottom,  because  you  wedged  the 
plant  into  the  soil. 

Up  to  6-inch  pots  this  method,  will 
do,  with  perhaps  the  addition  of  get- 
ting your  fingers  down  the  sides  as  a 
rammer.  With  all  shifts  of  plants  over 
6-inch,  especially  with  those  that  get 
a  small  shift,  say  6  to  8  or  10  to  12, 
you  cannot  get  the  soil,  which  in  these 
sizes  should  never  be  sifted,  down 
compact  without  the  aid  of  a  stick  an 
inch  or  two  wide  and  one-half  or  three- 
quarters  inch  thick.  All  hard-wooded 
plants,  like  azaleas,  want  to  be  firmly 
potted;  and  some  of  our  soft-wooded 
plants,  geraniums  for  instance,  want 
hard  potting.  As  a  rule,  plants  are 
potted  too  loosely. 

It  would  be  a  dirty  job  to  be  shift- 
ing plants  within  a  few  minutes  of 
their  being  watered,  but  it  would  be 
far  worse  for  the  plant  to  shift  it  when 
it  was  quite  dry,  or  in  that  condition 
that  it  needed  watering,  and  the  larger 
the  plant  the  worsa  it  would  be,  be- 
cause the  water  would  largely  pass 
down  through  the  new  soil  and  the  old 
ball  would  remain  dry  till  the  plant 
was  thoroughly  soaked,  which  all 
plants  won't  stand. 

We  are  able  to  shift  a  plant  from  a 
4  to  a  6-inch  or  6  to  8  with  absolute 
safety  at  any  time,  because  whan  prop- 
erly done  the  plant  does  not  lose  a 
fiber,  but  many  of  our  soft-wooded 
plants  soon  recover  from  a  little  dis- 
turbance of  the  roots  and  with  many 
of  our  common  plants  you  can  always 
rub  off  half  an  inch  of  the  surface  of 
the  old  ball,  which  enables  you  to  give 
them  more  new  soil. 

Many  of  the  soft- wooded  plants  that 


make  a  stem,  such  as  geraniums,  fuch- 
sias, heliotrope,  etc.,  do  not  hurt  any 
if  the  old  ball  is  down  an  inch  under 
the  new  soil,  but  in  hard-wooded 
plants  they  should  be  kept  very  near 
the  same  height.  This  is  particular  in 
palms;  they  should  never  be  pot- 
ted below  the  base  of  the  stems.  Many 
palms  will  raise  themselves  several 
inches  above  the  ground  by  the  roots. 
Lower  them  down  when  shifting,  but 
not  below  bottom  of  stem. 

The  best  work  of  potting  I  ever  kept 
the  watch  on  was  done  by  an  expert  at 
any  greenhouse  work.  It  was  very 
common  stuff;  Centaurea  gymnocarpa 
from  2-inch  to  3-inch.  He  did  not  have 
to  knock  out  his  plants,  but  merely 
shifted  them  and  did  it  well,  and  in 
just  twenty-five  minutes  he  had  rattled 
off  500.  That  was  too  fast  to  last  all 
day,  but  it  was  not  day,  it  was  night, 
by  lamp  light.  For  the  first  week  or 
two  after  Easter  we  frequently  have 
to  put  in  some  "bees,"  and  during  sev- 
eral evenings  last  spring,  two  men  in 
three  hours,  with  plenty  of  help,  shift- 
ed 2,500  geraniums  from  3  to  4-inch. 

I  have  spoken  of  rapid  potting,  which 
most  of  our  bedding  plants  must  get 
or  it  would  not  pay,  but  the  man  who 
can  pot  well  and  fast  can  also  slacken 
down  his  speed  and  pot  carefully  when 
occasion  requires,  and  where  care  is 
needed  it  pays.  He  could  not  handle 
cyclamen  or  cinerarias,  or  above  all 
herbaceous  calceolarias  as  he  could  a 
geranium  or  a  canna,  or  you  would 
break  and  smash  the  leaves,  but  ex- 
pertness  and  smartness  will  apply  to 
all  of  them. 

I  have  seen  some  men  take  hold  of  a 
dormant  cattleya  and  hold  it  up  and 
look  at  it  and  twist  it  around  as  if  it 
were  a  new  and  unknown  reptilian  fos- 
sil, and  then  fuss  with  moss  and  crocks 
as  long  as  it  would  take  to  visit  the 
dentist  and  have  a  tooth  out,  and  then 
from  want  of  knowledge  the  poor 
plant  pined  and  died;  while  I  know 
another  who  fixes  them  up  as  fast  as  I 
would  shift  a  cytisus,  and  this  man 
makes  them  grow. 

Don't  think  for  a  minute,  young 
man,  that  you  are  an  expert  potter  of 
plants  unless  a  superior  expert  told 
you  so  and  watched  you.  I  have  no- 
ticed some  young  men  in  very  large 
establishments  who  were  poor  hands 
at  potting  because  perhaps  they  never 
had  a  good  lesson,  or  perhaps  they 
were  of  that  conceited  build  that  they 
would  not  learn.  I  noticed  in  one  place 
where  a  rapid  potter  had  been  at 
work  on  a  lot  of  rose  cuttings  that 
were  calloused  but  had  lost  their 
leaves,  and  quite  a  number  were  up- 
side down.  Perhaps  some  will  say 
that  in  our  common  plants  in  spring- 
time anything  will  do.  It  may  do,  but 
in  the  aggregate  the  difference  in  the 
result  between  the  right  and  the  wrong 
way  will  be  considerable. 

Just  a  word  about  a  potting  bench. 
It  should  always  be  of  2-inch  plank, 
resting  on  cross-pieces  not  over  two 
feet  apart,  so  that  it  is  solid,  with  no 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J83 


Pyrimidal  Flowering  Chinese  Primulas. 


spring  to  it.  And  it  should  be  high 
enough  so  that  a  man  can  work  his 
hands  conveniently  without  bending 
his  back.  It  is  the  bending  over  that 
tires.  You  can't  raise  a  low  bench  up 
to  suit  a  tall  workman,  but  you  can 
raise  the  short  workman  up  to  suit 
the  bench. 

PRIMULA. 

A  very  large  genus  of  pretty  dwarf 
stemless  plants  that  are  all  from  tem- 
perate climates  or  high  elevations. 
Those  of  us  who  crossed  the  Atlantic 
will  remember  the  fields  and  banks 
and  hedge  rows  where  the  primrose 
covered  the  ground.  The  cowslip  (P. 
officinalis)  was  not  so  common  and 
was  generally  found  in  a  colony  in  a 
pasture  and  the  oxlip  (P.  elatior)  was 
still  less  common. 

Many  primroses  are  hardy  with  us, 
but  our  severe  winter,  and  often  hot, 
dry  summer,  is  not  nearly  so  favorable 
to  them  as  the  more  temperate  parts 
of  Europe.  The  polyanthus,  similar  to 
the  cowslip  except  in  color,-  is  the 
leading  flower  in  thousands  of  cottage 
gardens,  and  with  it  the  old  woman's 
story  that  if  you  plant  a  cowslip  or 
common  primrose  upside  down  it  will 
come  red,  double,  etc.  This  strange 
phenomenon  never  occurred  in  the 
garden  that  you  are  visiting,  but  it  did 
happen,  because  our  Aunt  Jane  or  old 
Bill  Jones  did  it  many  times. 

The  polyanthus  is  sometimes  saen 
doing  very  well  here,  and  where  it 
can  be  shaded,  but  not  a  wet  soil,  and 
protected  in  winter,  it  is  a  most  charm- 
ing hardy  spring  flower. 

The  old  double  white  form  of  P.  sin- 
ensis  was  once  a  most  important  plant 
with  every  florist.  Its  flowers  were 
used  in  immense  quantities  for  making 
designs,  but  we  have  gotten  over  that, 
and  although  we  had  no  difficulty  in 
cutting  up  the  large  plants  with  a 
sharp  knife  and  making  each  section 
into  a  cutting  which  rooted  slowly  but 
surely,  we  no  longer  bother  with  that 
method  of  propagation.  We  have  now 


a  double  white  equal  to  the  old  vari- 
ety from  seed  and  we  have  every 
shade,  double  and  single,  from  pure 
white  to  crimson.  The  varieties  of  P. 
sinensis  come  true  from  seed  and  it  is 
upon  such  we  depend  for  our  fall,  win- 
ter and  spring  flowering  plants,  and 
they  are  now  one  of  our  most  impor- 
tant plants. 

Besides  P.  sinensis  we  have  P.  ob- 
conica  and  P.  Forbesii,  the  "baby 
primrose."  For  some  years  we  did  not 
realize  the  great  beauty  and  useful- 
ness of  P.  obconica.  It  is  a  most 
charming  and  useful  plant,  and  the 
baby  primrose  sells  at ,  sight.  They 
are  so  profuse  in  bloom  and  have  the 
great  good  quality  that  they  are  fine 


window  plants,  and  being  easily  raised 
can  be  sold  at  a  very  moderate  price. 
Other  species  may  be  found  very  at- 
tractive for  the  private  collection,  but 
the  three  mentioned  are  the  leading 
commercial  plants,  and  all  want  about 
the  same  treatment. 

Always  obtain  the  best  strain  of 
seed.  It  takes  time  and  tedious  care 
to  save  primula  seed,  so  don't  be- 
grudge paying  for  a  good  strain.  The 
foliage  as  well  as  flowers  of  the  P. 
sinensis  are  handsome.  We  have  fern- 
leaved,  parsley-leaved,  curl-leaved, 
and  in  flowers  most  beautiful  colors 
and  markings.  The  flowers  of  obcon- 
ica have  been  greatly  improved  of  late 
and  doubtless  in  both  that  and 
Forbesii  great  improvements  will  be 
made. 

The  primulas  are  the  least  troublsd 
with  any  of  our  greenhouse  pests  of 
any  cultivated  plants.  The  principal 
thing  to  remember  is  that  they  do  not 
like  much  heat.  After  they  have  left 
the  seed  pan  they  need  a  good  open 
soil;  two  parts  loam,  one  part  sifted 
cow  manure,  and  one  part  leaf-mold 
will  do  them  finely,  potted  only  mod- 
erately firm. 

The  leaves,  or  rather,  leaf  stems, 
break  easily  and  here  is  where  care- 
ful and  skillful  potting  comes  in.  I 
frequently  see  people,  when  asked  to 
"knock  out  those  plants,"  take  hold 
of  the  top  of  the  plant  as  they  would 
a  cat's  tail  if  they  wanted  to  draw 
pussy  from  her  retreat.  Get  the  base 
of  the  plant  in  the  fork  between  your 
fingers,  and  you  can  protect  every  leaf. 
I  noticed  some  years  ago  that  the  Eng- 
lish florist  had  small  sticks  pushed 
down  on  three  sides  of  the  stem  of  the 


Primula  Obconica. 


J84 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


primula  just  after  shifting,to  keep  them 
from  wobbling  about,  as  they  were 
potted  what  we  would  call  "high."  We 
never  found  any  necessity  for  that,  for 
they  can  be  potted  with  care  just  right, 
sufficiently  deep  to  hold  them  firmly 
upright,  but  not  by  any  means  to  bury 
their  crowns.  This  is  particular;  don't 
get  them  too  low,  but  just  so  that  they 
set  firmly  on  the  soil. 

If  you  wish  to  have  primroses  by  Oc- 
tober you  should  sow  in  April,  and  if 
you  wish  to  have  them  in  spring  you 
should  sow  again  end  of  August.  You 
can  with  care  sow  any  time  from 
March  to  September.  We  usually  sow 
about  first  of  May,  which  gives  us 
flowering  plants  from  November  on  to 
March,  after  which  we  think  there  are 


pots.  I  have  found  these  little  plants 
do  finely  on  a  shelf  in  a  house  that 
had  a  good  shade.  In  another  five  or 
six  weeks  they  will  go  into  a  3-inch 
pot.  If  you  don't  have  a  cold-frame 
then  give  them  a  bench  where  it  is 
shaded  overhead,  and  they  can  get 
plenty  of  air.  End  of  August  or  early 
September  they  should  be  shifted  into 
their  flowering  pot.  We  sell  most  of 
them  in  4-inch  pots,  and  the  great  ma- 
jority go  as  soon  as  one  fine  truss  is 
developed,  but  to  grow  a  fine  plant 
they  should  have  a  5-inch. 

After  the  heat  of  summer  is  gone  we 
try  to  keep  them  at  about  50  degrees  at 
night,  but  less  won't  hurt  them  in  the 
least.  And  don't  crowd  them  at  any 
time;  they  must  have  full  room  for 


some  large,  healthy  plants,  but  in  this 
immediate  neighborhood  they  are  a 
failure.  Thousands  of  dollars  have 
been  spent  for  their  purchase  and  care, 
but  in  a  few  years  they  are  gone.  We 
have  pulled  up  this  spring  the  remains 
of  rhododendrons  and  kalmias  (and  re- 
placed with  hardy  deciduous  shrubs) 
which  the  confiding  owner  had  pur- 
chased from  the  agent,  who  showed 
him  the  gorgeous  picture  of  a  rhodo- 
dendron warranted  (till  the  bill  was 
paid)  to  grow  and  blossom  even  more 
beautifully  than  the  colored  plate.  So 
be  careful,  and  unless  you  are  sure  that 
these  plants  thrive  in  your  neighbor- 
hood don't  sell  them.  There  is  any 
number  of  good,  honest  hardy  shrubs. 
It  is  said  that  the  rhododendron,  or 


many  other  plants,  not  better,  but  the 
people  want  a  change,  and  for  an 
Easter  plant  we  do  not  prize  them.  It 
is  in  early  winter  that  they  are  such 
favorites  with  everybody. 

The  cold-frame  is  an  excellent  place  ' 
to  summer  over  the  primroses.  With 
the  glass  shaded  and  the  sash  raised 
back  and  front,  it  is  cool,  and  if  you 
will  not  neglect  them  there  is  no  place 
in  the  greenhouse  where  they  can  be 
grown  so  well.  If  the  frame  is  in  the 
shade  of  trees  so  much  the  better.  It 
is  coolness;  you  want. 

Sow  on  some  light  loam  and  leaf- 
mold  that  has  been  previously  well 
watered.  Just  press  in  the  seed  and 
cover  with  more  leaf-mold  very  light- 
ly; when  the  seed  is  out  of  sight  it  is 
covering  enough.  Place  a  pane  of  glass 
over  the  flat  or  pan  and  don't  let  the 
soil  get  parched.  When  the  little 
plants  are  up  keep  the  pan  in  the 
coolest  place  you  have. 

In  five  or  six  weeks  they  can  be  pot- 
ted singly  in  2-inch  pots,  using  clean 


Specimen  Greenhouse  Rhododendrons. 

the  spread  of  their  pretty  leaves,  or 
they  are  useless.  They  need  little  syr- 
inging, and  none  when  in  flower,  but 
when  growing  during  summer  a  fine 
sprinkling  does  them  good.  They  wilt 
quickly  when  allowed  to  suffer  for 
want  of  water  and  need  plenty  of 
water  from  seed  pan  to  flowering.  The 
soil  should  be  always  in  that  condi- 
tion that  it  will  take  plenty  of  water. 
If  you  flower  them  as  late  as  March 
or  April  their  flowers  will  need  shad- 
ing. 

RHODODENDRON. 

Where  these  broad-leaved  evergreen 
shrubs  will  flourish  out  of  doors  there 
is  no  hardy  shrub  that  equals  them  for 
color  and  massive  beauty.  We  have 
seen  acres  of  them  growing  as  freely 
as  a  weigelia  or  philadelphus,  and  in 
many  parts  of  Great  Britain  they  are 
planted  for  game  covers,  but  that  is 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In 
the  vicinity  of  Boston  they  appear  to 
do  well,  and  nearer  home  I  have  seen 


any  of  the  Ericaceae  order,  will  not 
thrive  where  the  soil  is  impregnated 
with  lime.  So  there  cannot  be  lime  in 
some  parts  of  the  Alleghany  mountains, 
for  there  the  kalmias  cover  the  mount- 
ain side.  R.  catawbiensis  is  widely  dis- 
tributed through  our  eastern  states, 
and  is  quite  hardy.  There  are  other 
causes  than  the  lime  that  make  the 
rhododendron  an  undesirable  plant  for 
our  northern  states.  It  gets  burnt 
with  the  bright  suns  of  March  when 
the  leaves  are  frozen  hard.  The  past 
winter  has  destroyed  many. 

It  is  as  a  forcing  plant  that  we  are 
chiefly  interested,  and  strange  to  say, 
beautiful  as  they  are  when  well  flow- 
ered, they  do  not  sell  readily.  They 
take  up  much  room  and  we  have  sev- 
eral times  declared  we  would  leave 
them  alone,  but  as  the  drummer  pays 
his  annual  visit  we  relent  and  say, 
"Well,  we  will  just  try  a  few."  And  it 
is  only  a  few  you  want  in  the  commer- 
cial greenhouse;  and  the  best  time  to 
have  them  is  at  Easter. 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


J85 


The  rhododendrons  that  you  see 
planted  by  the  landscape  gardener (  es- 
pecially if  he  is  from  a  distance)  and 
those  we  buy  to  forca  are  varieties  of 
R.  ponticum.  They  are  propagated 
from  seed,  by  cuttings  of  the  half- 
ripened  wood,  and  by  layers  and  by 
grafting.  The  latter  method  is  the 
usual  one  to  increase  the  fine  named 
varieties.  The  business  of  propagat- 
ing and  growing  the  rhododendron  is 
a  specialty  with  those  that  have  the 
suitable  soil,  such  as  the  fine  peat  of 
Surrey,  England,  or  the  black  peaty 
soil  of  Holland  and  Belgium. 

If  I  attempted  to  grow  on  over  sum- 
mer any  rhododendrons  I  would  use 
two-thirds  of  turfy  loam  and  one-third 
well  rotted  leaves.  You  could  not, 
however,  begin  to  grow  them  a  season 
as  cheaply  as  you  can  purchase  fine 
young  plants  well  set  with  buds  thai 
only  need  a  few  months'  care,  like  our 
newly  imported  azaleas,  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  you  must  expect  to  sell 
or  give  away  all  your  rhododendrons, 
while  your  unsold  azaleas  are,  with 
proper  treatment,  much  better  plants 
the  second  year. 

When  potting  the  newly  imported 
plants  see  that  the  ball  is  not  too  dry. 
It  is  better  to  make  sure  by  dipping  it 
in  a  tub  of  watar.  Pack  the  soil  firm- 
ly around  the  old  ball  and  store  them 
away  in  the  coolest  house  or  frame  you 
have.  At  New  Year's,  b"ring  them  into 
more  heat.  We  failed  several  years 
to  get  them  into  flower,  thinking  that 
like  the  azalea  they  would  come  along 
in  a  cool  house.  They  won't  do  it; 
you  must  give  them  60  to  65  degrees  at 
night  and  syringe  them  daily;  in  fact 
it  is  heat  and  moisture  that  bring  them 
out.  They  may  not  need  three  months 
to  force  them  out,  but  it  is  well  to  be 
in  time,  and  be  sure  to  give  the  roots 
plenty  of  water,  particularly  when  in 
flower.  The  flowers  wilt  easily  in  the 
sun  if  the  roots  are  dry. 

There  are  countless  varieties,  but 
some  of  the  handsomest  do  not  force 
well;  so  in  ordering  see  that  the  varie- 
ties are  suitable.  Desirable  forcing 
varieties  are  now  largely  grown  for 
that  purpose. 

There  are  now  beautiful  hybrid  rho- 
dodendrons, the  offspring  of  several 
species,  which  make  fine  conservatory 
plants.  They  should  be  managed  as 
we  do  azaleas,  without  the  severe 
pruning.  After  flowering  they  make 
their  growth  and  should  be  encouraged 
to  grow  by  a  good  heat  and  moisture. 
When  you  see  the  buds  set  you  can 
plunge  them  out  of  doors  for  the  sum- 
mer and  remove  to  a  cool  house  when 
you  do  the  Indian  azaleas. 

RICHARDIA  AFRICANA. 

This  plant  is  often  called  Arum  lily, 
but  with  us  is  universally  called  the 
Calla  lily.  For  many  years  it  was  a 
most  important  plant  with  us.  and  to- 
day there  are  a  number  of  people  who 
prefer  them  to  the  true  lilies.  They 
are  of  the  easiest  growth,  if  you  re- 
member one  important  thing,  and  that 


is  that  the  calla  comes  from  Northern 
Africa  and  does  not  want  to  be  starved 
in  a  cool  greenhouse. 

There  are  several  ways  of  growing 
them.  To  begin  with,  they  propagate 
easily  from  offsets,  which  you  can  take 
off  when  repotting  the  plants  in  the 
fall.  Some  plant  them  out,  but  if  they 
have  much  root  room  they  grow  too 
rampant  and  the  flowers  are  too  large 
to  be  useful. 

In  early  May  our  houses  are  too 
crowded  to  keep  the  callas  on  the 
bench  and  they  are  taken  outside  and 
laid  down  where  they  can  be  covered 
in  case  of  a  sharp  frost.  The  top  with- 
ers away  and  for  a  few  months  the 
root  is  dry.  In  August  we  shake  off 
all  the  soil  and  start  them  growing 
again  in  5  or  6-inch  pots,  keeping  them 
in  a  frame  as  long  as  there  is  no  dan- 
ger of  frost,  and  in  winter  give  them  a 
light  house  where  it  is  not  less  than 
60  degrees  at  night.  Although  almost 
an  aquatic  the  soil  should  be  in  such 
condition  that  water  passes  through  it 
freely.  For  soil  use  three-fourths  of 
coarse  loam  and  one-fourth  of  decom- 
posed cow  manure.  They  want  lots  of 
syringing  and  fumigating,  for  thrip 
and  red  spider  trouble  the  leaves. 

If  you  want  to  raise  some  specimens 
that  will  require  a  9  or  10-inch  pot  and 
bear  three  or  four  flowers  at  one  time, 
select  some  of  your  strongest  plants  in 
May  and  plant  them  out  two  or  three 
feet  apart  in  a  deep,  rich  soil,  where 
you  can  water  them  copiously  in  dry 
times.  They  lift  easily  end  of  Septem- 
ber and  will  make  great  plants. 

The  small  offsets  or  bulblets  that 
com0  off  the  corm  in  August  can  be 
potted  in  2-inch  pots  and  grown  on, 
giving  them  a  shift  into  a  5-inch  and 
plunge  out  of  doors,  and  if  given  plen- 
ty of  water  these  plants  will  be  in 
good  flowering  condition  by  October. 
Roots  are  now  sent  from  California 
very  cheaply. 

Richardia  albo-maculata  has  a  small, 
greenish-white  flower  and  a  prettily 
spotted  leaf,  which  we  used  to  use  in 
our  veranda  boxes.  It  rests  in  winter 
and  the  corm  should  be  started  grow- 
ing in  February.  To  increase  your 
stock  of  this  the  corm  can  be  cut  in 
two  or  three  pieces  and  started  grow- 
ing \n  February.  Keep  rather  dry  till 
leaf  growth  begins.  In  June  plant  them 
out  and  lift  in  fall  and  store  in  dry 
soil  till  time  to  start  again.  " 

There  is  a  magnificent  yellow  calla; 
of  its  correct  name  I  am  not  certain, 
but  think  it  is  R.  Elliottiana.  In  size 
and  form  it  is  like  the  common  calla, 
but  the  leaves  are  spotted  and  not  so 
thick  in  texture.  The  flower  is  simply 
grand.  I  don't  know  when  I  have  seen 
a  flower  that  pleased  me  so  .much. 
Fancy  a  dozen  or  more  of  these  flowers 
in  a  vase;  what  can  be  richer?  It  is 
not  yet  common  or  we  would  see  and 
hear  more  of  it,  but  every  florist  should 
obtain  a  stock  of  it. 

A  single  corm  was  given  to.  me  two 
years  ago  by  the  late  George  Savage,  of 
Rochester,  with  the  advice  to  start  it 


in  sand  and  give  little  water  till 
growth  began.  This  was  good  advice, 
for  the  following  June  it  threw  up  a 
gorgeous  bloom.  They  should  be  dor- 
mant in  the  soil  during  winter  and 
shaken  out  and  started  in  early  spring. 
We  divided  this  corin  into  four  or  five 
pieces  with  success,  one  of  which  flow- 
ered this  spring.  This  is  such  a  mag- 
nificent flower  I  cannot  praise  it  too 
highly. 

RICINUS  (CASTOR  BEAN). 

Our  warm  summers  suit  this  tropical 
plant  well,  and  in  very  large  beds  or 
borders  where  a  tropical  effect  is  want- 
ed it  has  a  fine  appearance.  It  is  easily 
raised  by  sowing  the  seeds  in  March, 
either  singly  in  small  pots  or  in  a  flat 
and  afterwards  potted  off  singly  in  3 
or  4-inch  pots. 

There  are  now  several  varieties, 
those  with  the  bronze  colored  leaves 
being  very  handsome.  To  get  a  good 
growth  of  the  ricinus  the  soil  of  the 
bed  should  be  deep  and  rich. 

ROSES. 

Volumes  have  been  devoted  to  the 
rose.  It  is  known  as  the  Queen  of 
Flowers.  Whole  books  have  dealt 
with  merely  the  diseases  of  the  rose. 
A  great  church  dignitary  of  England 
gives  all  his  leisure  time  to  telling 
funny  stories  and  studying  his  favo- 
rite love,  the  rose.  In  this  country 
Mr.  H.  B.  Ellwanger,  of  Rochester, 
has  published  a  volume  on  the  rose. 
And  for  centuries  the  literature  of  the 
rose  has  been  pouring  out  in  a  steady 
stream. 

The  production  of  the  plants  and 
flowers  has  made  a  fortune  for  a  few, 
a  competency  for  hundreds  and  daily 
bread  for  thousands.  There  is  no  long- 
er a  sanguinary  war  between  the  roses 
of  York  and  Lancaster  in  which  thou- 
sands perished  and  a  fair  island  was 
laid  waste,  but  strange  to  say  in  one 
city,  most  famous  for  peace  and  broth- 
erly love,  there  still  exists  a  Duke  of 
York  whose  pride  it  is  not  to  exter- 
minate his  countryman  who  grows 
white  roses,  but  to  produce  such  grand 
red  roses  with  stems  of  such  a  length 
as  his  Lordship  the  Earl  of  Lancaster 
never  dreamed  of. 

The  rose  is  not  only  Queen  to  all 
those  who  admire  a  beautiful  flower — 
and  they  are  low  in  the  animal  scale 
who  do  not — tout  is  the  most  impor- 
tant by  far  in  our  commercial  horticul- 
ture. If  we  happen  not  to  be  exten- 
sive growers  then  75  per  cent  of  our 
bills  with  the  commission  man  is  for 
roses.  Although  I  believe  the  orchids 
are  bound  to  become  great  favorites 
with  the  wealthier  flower  buyers,  yet 
they  nor  any  other  flowers  can  displace 
the  rose  as  Queen  of  all  of  Flora's 
gifts.  It  is  the  perfection  and  grace 
of  form,  the  beautiful  leaves,  the  fine 
stem  and  the  sweetness  of  the  flower 
that  places  it  pre-eminently  above  all 
other  flowers. 

In  Europe  the  rose  has  been  fostered 
by  any  number  of  rose  societies,  and 
we  have  a  rose  society  here,  an  auxili- 


12 


186 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


ary  of  our  national  S.  A.  F.  So  far  it 
has  been  a  rose  society  only  in  name, 
but  at  Detroit  it  took  a  new  lease  of 
life  and  now  bids  fair  to  start  off  with 
the  enthusiasm  that  belongs  to  the 
carnation  society.  It  is  sincerely  wish- 
ed that  it  may  and  if  so  what  magni- 
ficent displays  may  we  expect  at  its 
annual  conventions  and  exhibitions? 

Space  forbids  me  to  more  than  men- 
tion the  literature  of  the  rose.  Among 
the  books  devoted  to  the  rose  may  be 
mentioned  Shirley  Hittbard's  "Rose 
Book  for  Amateurs,"  and  "A  Book 
About  Roses,"  by  Rev.  Dean  S.  R. 
Hole.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  are 
charming  writers  and  ardent  students 
of  the  rose.  There  you  will  find  the 
history  of  the  rose,  almost  from  the 
dawn  of  our  own  history,  as  well  as 
its  present  day  beauties  and  associa- 
tions. A  far  (more  edifying  literature 
than  campaign  speeches,  murders, 
shipwrecks,  or  the  latest  movements 
of  the  popular  vaudeville  actresses. 

Of  American  authors,  besides  Mr. 
Ellwanger's  book,  we  have  "Parsons 
on  the  Rose,"  by  S.  B.  Parsons,  a  noted 
horticulturist;  and  "The  Secrets  of 
Rose  Culture,"  by  W.  J.  Hatton,  a 
practical  florist.  One  more  foreign 
book  is  that  by  Win.  Paul,  "The  Rose 


could  have  improved  on  that  myster- 
ious and  ambiguous  story  of  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden  had  I  been  the  learned 
Israelite  or  syndicate  of  Israelites  who 
by  tradition  handed  down  or  scratched 
on  tablets  of  stone  or  burnt  clay  the 
stories  of  their  forefathers  whose 
dreams  included  serpents,  fig  leaves, 
forbidden  fruit  and  murder.  Strange 
that  these  evil  agencies  surround  us 
yet,  and  encompass  a  man  most  fatally 
if  he  steps  far  off  the  virtuous  path. 
I  hope  I  won't  be  considered  presump- 
tuous but  I  would  have  made  Miss 
Innocent  Eve  tempt  Mr.  Frank  Adam 
to  present  her  with  a  moss  rose  bud. 
The  roses  were  growing  in  Asia  Minor, 
but  no  one  knows  what  kind  of  fruit 
the  forbidden  species  was.  If  Eve  was 
a  dark-skinned  damsel  we  would  say 
it  was  a  watermelon.  The  moss  rose 
bud  would  be  far  more  poetical  and 
hag  \a  meaning,  for  at  15  years  of  age 
we  learned  that  a  moss  rose  bud  was 
an  expression  of  true  love,  or  at 
least  the  first  true,  but  in  poor  Eve's 
case  it  would  have  been  a  case  of  force. 
It  was  first,  last  and  only  love.  No 
flirting,  no  jealousies  nor  need  of 
western  divorce  courts,  where  the  sign 
hangs  out:  "Divorces  granted  while 
you  wait." 


Basket  of  Roses. 


Garden."  It  is  an  expensive  but  mag- 
nificently illustrated  volume,  and  Mr. 
Paul,  as  a  raiser  and  cultivator  is  per- 
haps the  foremost  rosarian  of  the 
world. 

The  rose  has  been  emblematic  of  no 
end  of  things  and  I  will  conclude  my 
preliminary  remarks  by  saying  that 
I  have  thought  many  times  that  I 


If  you  were  to  ask  an  American 
which  was  the  most  important  class  of 
roses  he  would  probably  say  the  Teas. 
If  you  asked  an  Englishman  he  would 
say  undoubtedly  that  the  so-called 
Hybrid  Perpetual  class  was  much  the 
most  important.  The  more  temperate 
climate  of  Western  Europe  is  very 
favorable  to  the  rose,  and  In  Great 


Britain  the  Tea  and  Noisette  roses  are 
hardy  out  of  doors.  In  our  Northern 
States  the  Hybrid  Perpetuals,  while 
being  quite  entitled  to  be  called  hardy, 
are  often  injured  toy  the  severe  winters, 
and  the  Tea  and  Noisette  sections,  un- 
less most  thoroughly  protected,  are  en- 
tirely unfitted  for  our  winters. 

There  is  nothing  that  our  people 
crave  to  have  in  their  garden,  let  it  be 
in  the  few  acres  of  the  millionaire  or 
the  small  garden  plot  of  the  mechanic, 
so  much  as  a  rose,  and  in  nothing  is 
there  so  much  disappointment.  With 
our  detached  residences,  both  big  and 
little,  there  is  always  some  garden,  and 
too  frequently  the  attempt  to  grow 
roses  in  them  is  a  failure  The  soil 
is  often  worn  out  and  there  is  not  fresh 
air  enough.  The  budded  stock  is  pur- 
chased from  the  tree  peddler,  and  in  a 
few  years  there  is  a  strong  growth  of 
the  Manetti  stock.  "But  the  roses  don't 
flower."  The  rose  is  long  since  dead 
and  only  the  suckers  of  the  Manetti 
exist. 

I  believe  that  where  there  is  a  good 
expanse  of  lawni  and'  the  soil  is  fresh 
and  good  the  best  results  can  be  ob- 
tained by  planting  annually  young 
plants  of  the  Tea  and  Hybrid  Tea  vari- 
eties. Years  ago  where  now  stand 
buildings  we  used  to  plant  out  every 
May  3  or  4-inch  pot  plants  of  the  old 
Bon  Silene,  Safrano,  Isabella  Sprunt 
and  Duchess  de  Brabant,  and  from 
June  on  till  'middle  of  November  we 
cut  thousands  of  handsome  buds, 
which  I  know  would  more  than  gratify 
any  of  our  customers.  For  such  is 
the  love  for  and  pride  to  produce  roses 
that  occasionally  we  have  the  busy 
business  man  call  in  during  fall  just 
to  say  that  he  "cut  one  fine  rose  this 
morning,"  and  he  is  as  proud  of  it 
as  if  it  was  a  baby  arrived  during  the 
wee  sma'  hours,  the  unearthly  time  at 
which  Providence  has  ordained  these 
interesting  domestic  events  to  usually 
occur. 

This  summer  in  an  open  field  far  re- 
moved from  the  refreshing  influence 
of  the  hose  and  also  the  "madding 
crowd,"  on  a  piece  of  good  light  loam, 
we  have  had  a  row  of  Perle  des  Jar- 
dins,  President  Carnot  and  La  France. 
They  have  flowered  continually  and 
will  till  10  degrees  of  frost  destroys 
their  tender  growth. 

Before  I  enter  on  the  two  classes  of 
roses  that  are  the  main  objects  of  this 
article,  as  well  as  the  plants  of  great- 
est importance  to  the  florist,  I  want  to 
say  a  word  about  the  uses  of  some 
other  classes  that  we  occasionally 
have  to  supply. 

The  rose  is  spread  over  the  entire 
northern  temperate  regions  of  the 
world,  not  so  numerous  in  species  in 
North  America  as  in  Asia  and  Europe. 
In  this  country  they  are  found  as  far 
south  as  Mexico.  Over  200  species  of 
roses  have  been  described,  but  there 
are  probably  50  species  well  defined, 
and  of  varieties  and  hybrids  of  these 
many  species  there  are  thousands.  The 
cultivator  has  done  marvelous  things 
with/  the  rose,  and  some  of  our  culti- 
vated varieties  are  as  far  removed 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


J87 


View  through  a.  Range  of  Connected  Rose  Houses,  with  Raised  Benches. 


from  the  original  type  as  any  devia- 
tion from  nature  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  Yet;  a  few  of  the  original 
species  are  in  cultivation  and  are  most 
useful  plants. 

Noisette  Roses. 

These  were  much  oftener  seen  in 
our  northern  greenhouses  thirty  years 
ago.  Since  the  introduction  of  the 
beautiful  Tea  varieties!  little  attention 
is  paid  to  them,  but  in  the  private 
conservatory  they  are  fine  plants  for 
pillars  and  rafters.  They  are  useless 
to  us  outside  but  where  they  do  not 
get  more  than  15  degrees  of  frost  they 
must  be  grand  plants^  as  they  are  in 
our  southern)  states.  A  well  known 
nurseryman,  Mr.  Smith,  of  Geneva,  N. 
Y.,  who  knows  what  a  rose  is,  and 
does  not  talk  wildly,  as  many  tourists 
do,  told  me  that  he  believed  Northern 
Texas  was  the  most  favored  locality 
on  this  continent  for  the  rose,  and 
that  the  Tea,  Bourbon,  and  Noisette 
classes  grew  there  to  the  greatest  per- 
fection. 

The  Noisette  roses  are  easily  propa- 
gated by  cuttings  from  the  half  ripened 
wood  at,  any  time  tof  year,  either  July 
or  January.  They  should  be  always 
planted  out  in  a  well  drained  border, 
for  you  don't  get  their  real  beauty 
and  worth  till  they  are  a  few  years 
old.  After  making  a  strong  growth 
they  should  be  rested  by  less  water 
and  less  syringing,  and  before  starting 
up  again  have  the  weak  shoots  cut  off 
and  the  side  shoots  of  the  leading 
stems  cut  back  to  two  or  three  eyes. 
Winter,  of  course,  would  be  the  natural 
time  for  them  to  rest,  but  by  starting 


into  growth  early  in  spring  and  resting 
in  August  and  September  you  can  get 
flowers  during  winter.  Keeping  these 
roses  clean  off  aphis  and  red  spider  by 
syringing  is  the  principal  care. 

Well  known  varieties  of  this  class 
are  Marechal  Niel,  the  magnificent 
golden  yellow  rose;  Solfaterre,  a  grand 
sulphur  yellow;  Ophirie,  a  fine  copper 
yellow;  Gloire  de  Dijon,  a  beautiful 
creamy  amber;  and  old  La  Marque,  the 
old  white  rose  that  came  in  clusters 
with  such  luxuriant  dark  green  foliage. 
Where  these  beautiful  plants  will  do 
out  of  doors  there  are  many  fine  vari- 
eties. 

Moss  Roses. 

Everyone  is  fond  of  a  Moss  rose. 
There  are  now  many  fine  varieties, 
and  being  hardy  they  will  thrive 
wherever  the  Hybrid  Perpetual  class 
will  do  well.  For  propagation  refer  to 
the  Hybrid  Perpetuals. 

Lord  Penzance's  Sweet  Briars. 

This  is  a  new  section,  but  they  have 
proved  themselves  the  past  winter  per- 
fectly hardy.  They  are  as  sweet  scent- 
ed as  the  old  English  Sweet  Briar  and 
showy  flowers.  They  are  a  great  ad- 
dition to  our  hardy  flowering  shrubs, 
and  will  doubtless  be  much  planted. 
Like  the  H.  P's,  they  can  be  propa- 
gated from  the  half  ripened  wood  in 
sand,  or  from  the  matured  wood  in 
autumn  and  winter. 

Rosa  Rugosa. 

Rosa  Rugosa  is  a  distinct  species 
(from  Japan)  that  is  perfectly  hardy. 
They  have  thick  wrinkled  or  curly 


foliage,  very  distinct,  with  large  showy 
single  flowers  of  white  and  pink,  and 
are  covered  in  the  autumn  with  large 
conspicuous  red  fruit.  Immense  masses 
of  these  are  now  planted  and  they 
make  splendid  low  plantations  to  the 
margins  of  taller  shrubberies.  Easily 
propagated  from  young  or  matured 
wood. 

Hardy  Climbing  Roses. 

While  in  the  more  temperate  parts 
of  our  country  the  Noisette  roses  can 
be  planted,  we  must  confine  ourselves 
to  the  hardy  varieties.  They  are  too 
well  known  to  need  any  comment. 
They,  propagate  easily,  and  when 
planting  them  out  they  should  be  pro- 
tected for  the  first  few  years  or  till 
they  get  a  good  start. 

Some  of  the  ibest  of  them  are:  Balti- 
more Belle,  blush  white;  Bennett's 
Seedling,  pure  white;  Gem  of  the 
Prairies,  rosy  carmine;  Dundee  Ram- 
bler, pure  white;  Allister  Stella  Gray, 
orange;  and  several  others. 

For  this  purpose  too  we  have  the 
magnificent  Ramblers,  of  which  the 
Crimson  Rambler  was  the  forerunner. 
There  are  now  yellow,  pink  and  white 
forms  of  it,  and  as  hardy  climbing 
roses  they  are  unequalled. 

The  hardy  climbers  have  a  fine  burst 
of  bloom  in  June,  but  do  not  flower 
again  that  season. 

Wichuraiana  Roses. 

This  is  a  very  new  and  distinct 
strain,  and  produced  by  crossing  the 
Wichuraiana  with  many  of  our  culti- 
vated roses,  including  some  of  the  well 
known  Teas.  Some  of  them  will  take 


J88 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


high  rank  as  climbers,  and  some  being 
creeping  or  low  growing  will  be 
adapted  for  covering  rock  work  and 
for  cemetery  use.  Some  have  their 
flowers  distributed  along  the  stem, 
which  gives  them  a  handsome  wreath- 
like  appearance,  and  others  flower  in 
clusters  like  Crimson  Rambler.  Others 
have  the  fragrance  of  the  Sweet  Briar, 
so  their  pedigree  is  of  various  sources. 
I  cannot  speak  from  experience,  but 
some  of  them  are  said  to  be  valuable 
plants  for  forcing  in  pots.  Mr.  W.  A. 


green  character  of  the  latter,  and  if 
they  prove  hardy  and  inherit  the  ever- 
blooming  qualities  of  the  Tea  roses 
they  must  prove  a  great  acquisition 
to  our  gardens. 

Other  Classes. 

The  Austrian  Briar  roses  are  a 
small  class  with  bright  yellow  flowers, 
which  cover  the  bush  when  in  bloom. 
They  don't  last  long  but  are  very  gay 
and  beautiful,  and  the  plant  is  per- 
fectly hardy. 


Crimson  Rambler  Rose  and  Genista  in  a  basket. 


Manda,  of  South  Orange,  New  Jersey, 
has  sent  out  many  fine  varieties  of 
these  roses,  among  others:  Universal 
Favorite,  large  double  flower  of  a  soft 
light  pink;  South  Orange  Perfection, 
blush  changing  to  white;  Manda's  Tri- 
umph, a  splendid  climber,  bearing 
large  clusters  of  flowers.  Those  crossed 
withy  the  Tea  varieties  have  the  ever- 


There  is  a  small  class  of  roses  that 
are  truly  monthly  or  continuou^ 
blooming  and  yet  perfectly  hardy. 
Hermosa  is  a  good  type  of  this  class, 
which  botanically  may  belong  to  sev- 
eral classes,  but  for  our  purpose  we 
will  treat  them  all  as  monthly.  Agrip- 
pina  is  another,  and  the  Polyantha 
rose,  Clothilde  Soupert  requires  the 


same  treatment.  Young  plants  set  out 
in  early  May  will  continue  to  bloom 
till  hard  frost  sets  in.  Some  protec- 
tion, should  be  given  them  in  winter. 

These  can  be  propagated  during  win- 
ter if  you  have  a  few  plants  growing 
under  glass,  or  in  October  you  can 
take  the  cuttings  from  outside  and 
root  them  'in  the  propagating  bed. 

Many  of  the  Hermosa  and  Soupert 
type  are  forced  in  pots  for  spring  sales. 
For  this  purpose  plant  out  strong 
young  plants  in  spring,  and  encourage 
them  to  grow  till  fall.  Don't  lift  them 
till  we  have  had  some  good  sharp 
frosts.  Then  pot  them  and  cut  down  to 
five  or  six  good  eyes  and  plunge  in  a 
cold-frame  and  be  sure  not  to  leave 
them  without  ventilation  on  a  bright, 
sunny  day  or  the  buds  may  start,  which 
would,  hurt  them  very  much  if  a  very 
cold  spell  again  caught  them  before 
they  were  brought  in.  When  you  bring 
them  in  start  slowly  and  increase  the 
heat  as  flowering  time  approaches.  Of 
the  Soupert  type  there  are  varieties  in 
white,  pink  and  yellow. 

We  grew  years  ago  a  fine  Bourbon 
rose  called  Appolina,  a  large  pink 
flower,  as  good  as  many  of  the  Hybrid 
Perpetuals,  and  a  continuous  bloomer. 
For  the  amateur  this  is  a  grand  rose. 

The  Madame  Plantier  .type1  are  com- 
pact growing  plants  that  come  with 
a  grand  burst  of  bloom  and  are  soon 
over,  but  not  more  so  than  most  of 
our  hardy  shrubs,  and  as  they  are  per- 
fectly hardy  they  are  splendid  plants 
for  a  group/  a  hedge,  or  a  single  speci- 
men. 

Bedding  Roses. 

Where  a  bed.  or  border  of  roses  is 
wanted  by  our  customers,  and  the  sit- 
uation gets  light  and  air,  and  the  soil 
is  not  a  worn-out  garden  (if  it  is  you 
must  supply  good  fresh  loam  and 
manure)  then  I  believe  in  and  do 
recommend  the  Hybrid  Tea  and  com- 
mon Tea  roses,  knowing  that  they  will 
give  the  greatest  satisfaction.  We 
know  they  will  grow  and  bloom  con- 
tinuously weeks  after  our  tender 
plants  are  killed  by  frost,  and  months 
after  the  green  worm  and  aphis  has 
ceased  to  bother  the  roses.  I  reason 
with  our  patrons  that  strong  young 
plants  in  4-inch  pots  cost  little  if  any 
more  than  their  geraniums  and  can- 
nas,  and  if  they  get  killed,,  which  they 
expect,  they  have  lost  no  more  than 
they  have  in  their  ordinary  bedding 
plants. 

In  this  class  we  have  a  great  variety. 
Not  all  the  Teas  are  good  for  this 
purpose,  but  many  are,  and  the  Hybrid 
Teas  are  splendid,  and  with  a  slight 
protection  they  will  come  through  the 
winter  without  any  harm. 

For  a  summer  bed  of  roses  you  have 
many  to  choose  from,  and  the  follow- 
ing are  good  Hybrid  Teas:  La  France, 
President  Carnot,  Kaiserin  Augusta 
Victoria,  Pierre  Gulllott  Mme.  Schwal- 
ler,  Crimson  Bedder,  Mme.  Pernet- 
Ducher,  Lady  Mary  Fitzwilliam, 
Countess  of  Pembroke,  and  others. 

Among  the  Tea  scented  there  is  a 
still  greater  variety  for  this  purpose. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J89 


Those  I  have  proved  as  most  satisfac- 
tory for  summer  bedding  are:  Bon 
Silene,  Isabella  Sprunt,  Safrano,  Du- 
chess de  Brabant,  Coquette  de  Lyon, 
Perle  des  Jardins,  La  Sylphide,  Mme. 
Caroline  Kuster,  Marie  Guillot,  Souv. 
d'un  Ami,  Mme.  Faleot,  Mme.  Welche, 
Goubault,  Mme.  Bravy,  Mme.  de 
Watteville,  Sombreuil,  and  others. 
Some  of  the  above  are  very  old 
varieties,  and  you  would  not  think 
of  growing  them  during  winter  for 
cut  flowers,  but  they  are  beautiful  and 
free  flowering  out  of  doors.  Our  Queen 
of  Queens,  Catherine  Mermet  and  its 
fine  sports  were  not  satisfactory  bed- 
ded out  in  summer. 

Hybrid  Perpetuals. 

These  are  the  roses  that  are  mostly 
planted  to  make  a  permanent  bed. 
Many  thousand  of  the  budded  stock 
are  annually  sold.  Our  department 
stores  are  now  selling  the  imported 
stock  at  10  plants  for  one  dollar.  There 
can't  be  a  great  margin  for  the  de- 


Iron  Frame  Rose  House  with  Solid  Beds. 

partment  store  or  a  great  profit  to 
the  grower,  but  the  popular  price 
catches  the  man  or  woman  who  is 
looking  for  a  bargain,  and  they  are 
numerous.  They  get  well  dried  out  be- 
fore they  get  into  the  purchaser's  gar- 
den, and  we  haven't  heard  how  they 
thrive.  It  is  to  be  hoped  they  give 
one  final  "department"  flower  and 
then  die,  which  the  majority  must. 

Whenever  you  can  get  roses  on  their 
own  roots  do  so.  They  will  be  far 
more  satisfactory  to  your  customers. 
But  some  of  the  finest  sorts,  the  Bar- 
oness Rothschild  type  for  one,  do  not 
grow  well  on  their  own  roots,  and  of 
those  you  must  rely  on  the  budded 
plants.  If  you  import  the  budded  stock 
it  should  be  unpacked  and  laid  in 
trenches  in  a  cold-frame  during  winter, 
and  when  filling  your  orders  in  the 
spring  see  that  they  are  carefully 
planted  and  insist  on  their  being  cut 
down  to  within  six  inches  of  the 
ground. 

If   you   handle   but   a   few   hundred 


they  can  be  potted  when  received  in 
the  fall,  a  pot  that  will  just  hold  the 
roots  is  large  enough,  and  after  cut- 
ting down  to  a  few  strong  eyes  plunge 
them  in  a  frame  and  cover  with  glass. 
Never  let  them  get  too  warm.  These 
plants  will  come  along  slowly  in  April 
and  be  well  rooted  by  first  of  May, 
and  if  lots  of  ventilation  has  been 
given,  or  better  still  the  sash  removed, 
they  must  be  satisfactory  to  your  cus- 
tomers as  you  should  not  lose  one. 
But  you  want  more  than  the  depart- 
ment store  price  for  them;  you  should 
get  at  least  $6.00  per  dozen. 

If  you  have  land  of  your  own  you 
should  propagate  during  fall  and  win- 
ter all  the  Hybrid  Perpetual  roses  that 
do  well  on  their  own  roots.  Small 
plants  put  out  in  May  will  be  most 
satisfactory  plants  for  your  customers 
by  the  following  spring,  or  even  the 
first  fall,  if  they  have  had  good  soil, 
but  it  is  safer  to  plant  in  the  spring. 
Tell  your  customers  about  the  Manetti 
stock,  and  teach  them  to  distinguish 


J90 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


between  the  suckers  of  the  stock  and 
the  rose.  But  when  on  their  own  roots 
danger  of  that  trouble  is  impossible. 

The  so-called  tree  roses  are  not  to 
be  recommended  for  our  climate.  They 
are  called  standard  roses  in  Great 
Britain,  and  in  that  form  countless 
thousands  are  grown.  Here  they  look 
very  charming  the  first  season  per- 
haps, and  perhaps  the  next,  but  the 
third  usually  finishes  them.  They  are 
budded  on  the  wild  briar.  The  briar 
stalks  are  collected  from  the  hedge- 
rows and  thickets,  and  are  sold  to  the 
nurseryman  tied  up  in  bundles  like  an 
English  tourist  transports  his  walking 
sticks;  and  there  is  little  more  ap- 
parent life  about  them  than  a  bundle 
of  golf  sticks,  yet  they  grow,  and  on  a 
side  shoot  near  the  top  the  bud  is 
inserted  the  following  June  or  July 
and  in  another  year  they  are  sold. 
But  don't  buy  them  if  you  live  north 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  unless  you  live 
in  the  Northern  Pacific  States,  where 
many  plants  flourish  that  won't  in  our 
eastern  states.  The  dwarf  or  bush 
roses  are  much  better  for  us. 

After  a  rose  is  well  established  there 
is  not  much  use  in  strawing  up  the 
tops  (you  need  to  cut  them  quite 
severely  every  year  if  you  want  good 
flowers),  but  four  or  five  inches  of 
stable  manure  laid  around  the  roots 
is  a  great  help  to  them,  and  it  need 
not  be  done  till  end  of  November. 

Among  the  Hybrid  Perpetual  roses 
that  do  well  on  their  own  roots  are: 


Gen.  Jacqueminot,  crimson;  Ulrich 
Brunner,  deep  pink;  Mme.  Laffay,  red; 
Alfred  Colomb,  cherry  red;  Anna 
Alexieff,  rose;  Baron  de  Bonstettin, 
very  dark  crimson;  Clio,  blush;  Coun- 
tess of  Oxford,  carmine;  Duke  of  Ed- 
inburgh, crimson  maroon;  John  Hop- 
per, bright  rose;  Mme.  Gabriel  Luizet, 
fine  pink;  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  cherry 
rose;  Mrs.  Laxton,  velvety  red;  Presi- 
dent Thiers,  large  red;  Roger  Lambe- 
lin,  crimson,  edges  of  petals  white; 
Sir  Garnet  Wolsley,  bright  red.  There 
are  many  other  fine  varieties  but  the 
above  list  contains  some  splendid 
sorts. 

Among  the  finest  of  those  that  do 
better  when  budded  on  the  Manetti  or 
Briar  stocks  are:  Baroness  Rothschild, 
a  beautiful  light  pink;  Captain  Christy, 
flesh  pink;  Fisher  Ho}mes,  dark  crim- 
son; Mabel  Morrison,  fine  white;  Mar- 
garet Dickson,  white  with  pale  pink 
center;  Marie  Baumann,  crimson; 
Magna  Charta,  dark  pink,  very  fine; 
Paul  Neyron,  dark  pink,  immense  size; 
Prince  Camille  de  Rohan,  crimson 
maroon.  In  this  short  list  will  be 
found  some  of  the  finest  roses  in  culti- 
vation. 

Hybrid  Perpetual  roses  can  be  pro- 
pagated as  follows,  and  this  includes 
the  hardy  climbers  or  any  of  the  de- 
ciduous kinds.  When  the  current  year's 
growth  is  about  in  that  condition  that 
the  flower  is  fully  developed  it  is  called 
about  half  ripe.  This  is  usually  about 
middle  of  June.  Prepare  a  frame  in 


which  you  have  trod  in  eighteen  inches 
or  two  feet  of  stable  manure;  in  fact 
make  a  mild  hotbed  with  the  slope 
facing  north.  Put  three  inches  of  soil 
on  the  manure  and  on  that  two  inches 
of  sand,  and  insert  your  cuttings.  Two 
eyes  are  enough,  one  above  and  one 
below  the  surface  of  the  sand.  Keep 
the  sand  moist  and  as  cool  as  possible 
by  shading,  letting  in  only  air  enough 
to  prevent  too  much  moisture.  By 
degrees  they  will  endure  more  air, 
and  in  three  or  four  weeks  will  be  well 
rooted  and;  can  be  soon  potted  into 
2  1-2  or  3-inch  pots  and  stood  in  a  cold- 
frame,  but  they  must  be  carefully 
watered  and  shaded  till  they  get  hold 
of  the  soil.  These  plants  could  be 
planted  out  the  following  October,  but 
1  would  prefer  to  keep  them  plunged 
in  a  cold-frame  and  planted  out  the 
following  April,  when  they  will  make 
fine  plants. 

Another  plan  is  by  using  the  dor- 
mant wood  in  the  fall.  Before  very 
hard  frost,  say  middle  of  November. 
cut  off  the  well  ripened  growths  of 
the  previous  summer  and  cut  them  in- 
to lengths  of  two>  or  three  eyes.  Tie 
them  in  bunches  of  25  or  50,  and  wrap 
some  moist  sphagnum  around  the  ends, 
and  store  these  bunches  away  in  flats 
under  a  bench  in  a  cool  house.  In  two 
months  the  ends  will  be  well  calloused 
and  then  they  can  be  placed  in  a  few 
inches  of  sand  that  is  a  little  warmer 
than  the  house,  and  50  degrees  for  the 
house  will  do  well.  They  will  soon 


House  pf  Voting  American  Beauty  Roses, 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


House  of  American  Beauty  Roses  in  Full  Bearing. 


root  and  can  be  potted  off  and  grown 
on  to  be  planted  out  in  April  or  May. 
Always  remember  that  although  these 
roses  are  hardy  any  growth  that  is 
made  under  glass  is  tender  and  will 
not  stand  a  frost,  so  they  should  not 
go  out  till  danger  of  frost  is  past. 
This  is  the  simplest  and  surest  way 
of  propagating  any  of  the  deciduous 
roses. 

Forcing  Hybrid  Perpetuals. 

Since  the  American  Beauty  has  been 
grown  in  such  quantity  there  are  much 
fewer  of  the  H.  P.  roses  grown  for 
their  flowers,  but  they  are  wanted  in 
pots,  and  such  sorts  as  Jacqueminot, 
Brunner,  Magna  Charta,  Anna  de 
Diesbach  and  Mme.  Gabriel  Luizet 
force  well,  and  if  properly  prepared 
make  fine  pot  plants,  or  their  blooms 
can  be  cut.  The  fall  importations  of 
these  roses  are  not  satisfactory  for 
this  purpose.  The  long  journey  and 
the  length  of  time  is  a  poor  prepara- 
tion for  spring  forcing,  so  strong 
plants  with  good  stems  should  be  ob- 
tained of  our  American  nurserymen. 

The  wood  sliould  be  well  ripened  be- 
fore lifting  and  they  should  be  potted 
as  soon  as  possible  and  the  stems  cut 
down  to  three  good  eyes  on  each  stem. 
The  fewer  shoots  you  have  the  finer 
they  will  be,  and  the  more  you  have 
the  poorer  they  will  be.  If  the  wood 


of  these  roses  has  been  well  ripened, 
there  is  no  good  in  letting  hard  frost 
touch  them  again,  but  they  should  be 
in  a  cold-frame  till  at  least  New  Year's 
and  then  removed  to  a  house  where  it 
is  not  over  40  degrees  at  night.  They 
will  endure  nothing  like  forcing  for 
the  first  six  weeks  after  being  brought 
in. 

The  idea  is  to  begin  as  low  as  pos- 
sible with  fire  heat  and  slowly  increase, 
which  at  flowering  time,  which  may 
be  the  1st  to  15th  of  April,  they  will 
want  55  to  60  degrees  at  night.  If  you 
don't  want  them  as  early  as  April  then 
leave  them  longer  in  the  frame  and 
they  will  come  on  all  the  better.  It 
is  useless  to  try  and  force  these  roses 
too  fast  because  they  have  no  working 
roots,  but  will  make  roots  as  top 
growth  develops. 

If  you  want  any  of  these  roses  as 
early  as  January  you  must  use  plants 
that  are  in  quite  a  different  condition. 
For  those  it  is  best  to  lift  in  the  fall, 
or  purchase,  and  pot  and  treat  as  you 
do  those  above  described,  only  they 
should  be  left  out  till  March  and  then 
brought  in  and  started  growing.  They 
should  be  encouraged  to  make  a  strong 
healthy  growth.  Thin  out  the  shoots 
to  four  of  five  of  the  strongest.  By 
July  they  will  have  made  some  long 
stout  shoots  which  should  not  have 
been  cut  off  with  the  flowers;  it  would 


be  better  to  pinch  off  the  flowers  and 
let  the  strength  go  into  wood. 

In  July  they  can  be  placed  outside 
and  plunged  and  mulched,  but  not  over 
watered  or  the  eyes  may  break  and 
grow,  and  that  is  what  you  don't  want. 
By  end  of  August  lay  them  on  their 
sides  so  that  they  don't  get  the  rain, 
and  endeavor  to  dry  them  off,  but  not 
too  rapidly  or  the  wood  will  shrivel. 
Till  the  first  of  October  the  best  place 
would  be  in  a  frame  where  you  could 
cover  them  in  case  of  rains.  After  the 
first  frost  or  two  there  is  no  danger  of 
their  buds  starting.  •  ., 

Now,  these  roses  are  in  a  fit  state 
to  ibe  forced  at  any  time  and  could  if 
wanted  be  had  in  flower  by  the  holi- 
days. They  will  not  want  any  shifting, 
but  as  the  growth  starts  and  the  roots 
are  feeding  they  can  be  mulched  and 
surfaced  with  loam  and  cow  manure. 
The  forcing  of  these  plants  is  much 
easier  than  those  lifted  the  same  fall. 
The  pots  are  full  of  roots  ready  to 
begin  active  growth  directly  the  top 
starts.  It  is  not  advisable  to  start 
them  too  warm  at  first  or  you  will  get 
a  weak  growth,  but  they  are  much 
less  liable  to  injury  than  the  others. 

I  did  not  mention  it,  but  of  course 
when  starting  into  heat  you  must 
again  shorten  back  the  shoots  to  two 
or  three  .stout  eyes.  These  roses  are 
sometimes  forced  for  several  years. 


192 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


The  principal  object  is  to  get  a  good 
strong  growth  in  the  summer  and 
ripen  it  in  the  fall.  Over  potting  should 
be  avoided,  and  with  surfacing  and 
liquid  manure  you  can  grow  them  for 
three  or  four  years  in  the  same  pot. 
A  good  strong  plant  that  started  off 
well  in  the  spring  should  need  when 
lifted  from  the  ground  a  6-inch  pot. 

Jacqueminot,  Brunner  and  other  Hy- 
brid Perpetuals  that  are  planted  on 
a  bench  are  put  in  four  or  five  inches 
of  soil  in  March  or  April.  They  should 
be  good,  strong  plants  when  first 
benched.  If  budded  plants,  they 
should  be  cut  down  to  a  few  eyes.  If 
plants  propagated  that  spring,  they 
will  need  one  stopping.  They  must  be 
encouraged  to  make  a  strong  growth 
that  summer  and  in  September  be 
gradually  dried  off  to  ripen  their 
growth.  This  is  the  most  particular 
period  of  their  time  and  they  must 
not  be  dried  off  too  quickly.  Let  in  all 


I  intended  to  remark  at  the  opening 
of  these  notes  on  the  so-called  Hybrid 
Perpetual  roses  that  the  term  is  high- 
ly misleading.  They  are  not  perpetual 
at  all.  Perhaps  with  a  cool,  wet  sum- 
mer you  may  get  a  few  scattering 
flowers,  and  we  usually  do  get  an  odd 
one  here  and  there  in  September  or 
October,  but  beautiful  as  is  this  most 
important  class  of  roses  in  color,  form 
and  fragrance,  it  is  all  wrong  to  call 
them  perpetual.  So  you  see  that  a 
man  who  devotes  nearly  a  year,  and  in 
case  of  solid  beds,  the  whole  year  to 
one  crop  of  flowers,  must  not  only  be 
sure  of  success  but  must  realize  a  high 
price  from  his  blooms  or  he  is  a  loser. 

The  American  Beauty  is  a  true  Hy- 
brid Perpetual,  for  with  proper  man- 
agement it  blooms  from  August  till 
the  following  May;  not  profusely,  or 
they  would  not  command  the  high 
winter  price  they  do;  still  they  keep 
sending  up  flowering  shoots.  In  an- 


and  put  away  in  a  cold-frame,  but  kept 
from  very  hard  freezing. 

After  New  Year's  they  are  brought 
in  and  slowly  brought  along.  Until  I 
tried  this  plan  I  had  no  idea  that  the 
Beauty  was  such  a  grand  rose  for  the 
purpose.  The  year  I  alluded  to  we 
had  several  hundred  plants  for  Easter 
that  would  average  six  open  flowers 
and  six  buds,  with  stems  twelve  to  fif- 
teen inches  long.  Nothing  sells  like 
them,  and  we  easily  got  $2.50  and  $3.00 
each  for  them.  When  first  they  break 
you  would  think  they  were  going  to 
be  all  blind,  but  they  soon  deceive  you. 
Don't  attempt  to  keep  any  unsold 
plants  over;  far  better  raise  a  new  lot 
every  year. 

The  Crimson  Rambler  (and  we  are 
trying  the  Yellow,  which  will  doubtless 
force  as  well)  has  become  a  standard 
Easter  plant  with  all  of  us.  You  can 
obtain  strong  field  grown  plants  in 
November,  and  if  their  shoots  are  six 


the  cold  air  you  can  and  if  some  frost 
is  inside,  so  much  the  better.  It  is 
much  better  to  ripen  the  wood  by  air 
and  cold  than  by  drying  at  the  root. 

The  time  of  starting  will  depend  on 
the  time  you  want  the  flowers,  and 
the  earlier  you  want  them  the  longer 
time  you  must  give.  Cut  them  close  if 
you  expect  fine  flowers.  Mulch  the 
bed  and  begin  firing  slowly,  with  plen- 
ty of  syringing.  If  you  get  over  the 
first  few  weeks  without  losing  any 
plants,  you  are  all  right.  The  process 
from  now  on  is  plenty  of  water  and 
syringing,  with  a  gradual  rise  of  tem- 
perature till  flowering  time. 

These  forcing  hybrids  are  some- 
times planted  out  in  solid  beds  and 
forced  year  after  year.  It  is  precisely 
the  same  process.  A  growth  in  sum- 
mer, a  ripening  in  fall  and  pruning 
back  and  starting  with  heat  again  at 
whatever  time  you  want  your  crop. 


Range  of.Short-span-to-the-South  Rose  Houses. 

other  place  I  intend  to  say  something 
about  this  wonderful  variety  as  grown 
for  cut  flowers,  but  here  I  wish  to  say 
that  although  I  have  never  seen  it 
satisfactory  when  planted  out  of  doors, 
it  has  been  to  me  the  most  profitable 
of  pot  roses. 

For  this  purpose  we  plant  out  a  few 
hundred  in  a  light  house  in  four  or 
five  inches  of  soil  as  soon  as  our  lilies 
are  gone,  in  April.  The  best  lot  that 
I  ever  raised  were  planted  on  April 
1st,  Easter  being  on  March  the  25th 
of  that  year.  The  flowers  you  get  that 
summer  and  fall  will  pay  you  for  bench 
room  and  labor  far  better  than  chry- 
santhemums. In  November  we  dry 
them  off  some,  having  previously  put 
in  a  lot  of  cuttings  in  the  sand.  The 
old  plants  are  lifted  and  cut  down  to 
seven  or  eight  inches  of  the  pot.  Not 
so  short  as  we  would  the  Hybrid  Per- 
petuals, for  the  eyes  near  the  base  are 
not  as  good.  They  are  then  matured 


or  seven  feet  long  shorten  them  back 
to  three  and  four  feet.  They  require 
a  7  or  8-inch  pot.  Pot  them  and  keep 
very  cool  for  the  first  month,  but  if 
Easter  is  early  you  want  to  begin  early 
to  start  them  growing.  The  success 
will  all  depend  on  starting  slowly,  but 
twelve  to  fourteen  weeks  is  none  too 
much  to  allow  them  in  the  houses. 
You  can  tie  them  in  any  shape,  but  the 
canes  should  not  be  allowed  to  run 
up  straight.  You  will  get  a  more  even 
break  if  they  are  wound  around  a  few 
stakes. 

Another  plan,  entailing  more  time 
and  labor  but  a  surer  way  to  get 
flowers  in  abundance  and  requiring 
less  time  in  winter  to  force,  is  to  pot 
some  strong  plants  in  April  and  put 
them  in  7  or  8-inch  pots  and  start 
growing  in  the  coolest  house  you  have. 
In  fact,  under  a  bench  would  do  till 
they  break;  then  give  them  a  light 
bench  and  some  long  wires  to  support 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J93 


them,  and  by  midsummer  you  will  have 
five  or  six  strong,  long  growths.  Other 
growths  should  be  rubbed  off.  If  you 
have  too  many  caues  you  will  get  a 
weaker  growth.  Put  them  out  of  doors 
in  July  and  by  end  of  August  try  and 
shorten  up  on  water  and  the  wood  will 
ripen.  As  cold  weather  comes  they 
will  want  little  water  and  will  lose 
their  foliage. 

These  plants  can  be  forced  at  any 
time,  and  although  the  canes  are  not 
quite  as  strong  as  the  field  grown 
ones,  every  eye  gives  us  a  cluster  of 
bloom.  After  a  few  frosts  we  lay  the 
plants  down  in  a  cold-frame  and  cover 
with  boards,  and  a  little  hay  or  straw 
on  the  plants,  where  they  can  remain 
till  you  want  to  bring  them  in. 

All  the  Ramblers  we  get  are  budded 
on  the  briar,  hence  their  wonderful 
vigorous  growth.  And  as  long  as  we 
can  buy  of  our  nurserymen  fine  plants 
at  such  a  low  cost  it  would  never  pay 
us  to  bother  about  either  budding  them 
or  propagating  from  cuttings. 

Tea  Roses. 

This  is  far  and  away  the  most  im- 
portant section  to  the  commercial 
florist.  They  are  everything  to  him. 
They  are  used  on  all  and  every  occa- 
sion and  every  day  in  the  year.  And 
what  an  improvement  in  them  in  25 
years!  And  the  method  of  growing 
them  has  kept  pace  with  the  improved 
varieties.  It  is  to  the  Frenchmen  we 
are  mostly  indebted  for  the  finest  Tea 
Roses.  Perhaps  that  will  not  always 
be  so.  Our  American  nurserymen  and 
florists  are  doing  a  great  deal  in  hy- 
bridizing and  raising  seedlings.  Mr. 
E.  G.  Hill  told  me  this  summer  that 
he  had,  I  am  afraid  to  say  how  many 
thousand,  but  I  am  sure  it  was  5,000, 
young  seedlings  of  every  conceivable 
cross.  Surely  we  shall  have  some 
young  Hoosiers  that  will  startle  the 
rose  world.  Let  them  come!  We  can 
stand  several  more  shades. 

Is  it  not  remarkable  that  with  the 
hundreds  of  fine  Teas  our  demand 
seems  filled  with  so  limited  a  number 
of  varieties?  It  is  almost,  or  perhaps 
quite,  correct  to  say  that  of  all  the 
millions  of  roses  cut  and  sold,  four 
varieties  would  cover  75  per  cent  of 
them,  and  one  of  them  is  not  a  Tea, 
the  American  Beauty.  The  remaining 
three  are  the  two  glorious  sports  of 
Catherine  Mermet,  Bridesmaid  and  the 
Bride,  and  the  crimson  Meteor.  New 
varieties  come  and  go,  their  advent 
heralded  with  shouts  of  praise  and 
loud  advertising,  and  their  exit  is  a 
quiet  retreat.  They  have  answered 
two  purposes:  they  have  made  money 
for  the  raiser  and  introducer  and  given 
us  a  little  more  experience.  What  a 
lot  of  experience  we  do  get  as  we  pass 
along. 

A  good  place  to  begin  with  the  Tea 
roses  will  be  at  the  propagation.  They 
root  most  easily  anywhere  from  No- 
vember till  April,  and  both  earlier  and 
later,  but  slower  and  not  so  surely. 
We  feel  as  much  certainty  that  the 
rose  cuttings  will  root  as  we  do  when 
we  put  in  a  batch  of  salvia.  With  the 


sand  at  65  degrees  and  the  house  from 
50  to  55  degrees  you  cannot  fail  if  you 
keep  the  sand  moist.  I  never  owned  a 
north  side  propagating  bench,  and 
.  there  is  no  need  of  it.  Any  bench  will 
do  if  shade  is  supplied  for  the  first  few 
days. 

Pot  off  as  soon  as  the  roots  are 
started  and  shade  again  till  the  plants 
have  started  to  grow,  and  then  they 
want  the  full  iight,  as  they  do  every 
minute  for  the  remainder  of  their  ex- 
istence. 

The  usual  time  to  propagate,  and  the 
best  time,  is  in  January  and  February. 
Then  you  have  time  to  get  the  young 
plants  into  a  3-inch  pot  for  a  couple  of 
months  before  planting  time.  One  au- 
thor says  the  cutting  should  be  of 
only  one  eye  and  another  says  it  should 
be  from  only  flowering  wood.  I  would 
much  rather  have  the  cutting  of  two 
eyes,  one  below  and  one  above  the 
surface  of  the  sand,  leaving  a  leaf  or 
part  of  the  leaf  on  the  upper  eye.  If 
the  wood  is  of  any  size,  not  too  spind- 
ling and  weak,  it  makes  no  difference 
to  the  future  plant  whether  it  is  blind 
or  flowering.  That  I  have  proved,  and 
although  I  am  by  no  means  an  exten- 
sive rose  grower,  the  most,  vigorous 
young  plants  I  ever  grew  were  from 
cuttings  of  blind  wood,  and  rather 
small  and  hard  at  that. 

Large  rose  growers  can't  plant  all 
their  houses  in  a  week,  so  they  begin 
end  of  May  and  keep  on  till  July. 
Those  planted  end  of  June  should  be 
in  good  bearing  by  middle  of  October, 
and  many  buds  could  have  been  cut 
before  that  if  it  were  wise  to  let  them 
no\vcr,  which  it  is  not  On  raised 
benches  four  inches  of  soil  is  consid- 
ered ample,  and  some  growers  plant 
in  three  inches,  allowing  for  future 
mulching  to  add  another  half  or  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch.  The  rows  on  the 
bench  fifteen  inches  apart  and  the 
plants  one  foot  apart,  is  as  close  as  you 
can  plant  them. 

The  bottom  of  the  benches  should  be 
of  2x4  scantling,  or  not  wider  than  2x6, 
and  between  such  board  or  scantling 
leave  a  space  of  three-fourths  of  an 
inch  when  building.  When  the  boards 
swell  with  the  wet  soil  they  will  only 
be  half  an  inch  apart.  Perfect  drainage 
is  of  the  utmost  importance.  Unless 
the  superfluous  water  passes  freely 
through  you  will  have  no  success. 
When  the  soil  gets  into  that  condition 
that  the  bed  does  not  want  water  in  a 
month  there  is  something  wrong,  and 
most  likely  your  rose  leaves  will  be 
largely  off  by  that  time. 

The  soil  of  the  bed  should  be  quite 
firm,  not  beaten  down  as  you  would 
a  mushroom  bed,  but  good  and  solid. 
Plant  very  little  below  the  surface, 
and  firm  the  soil  around  the  ball;  un- 
less the  soil  of  the  bed  is  very  dry 
only  water  at  the  plant.  In  a  few  days, 
when  the  plants  want  it  again,  the 
whole  bed  can  be  watered. 

If  there  is  any  excuse  for  shading  it 
is  just  now  in  the  hottest  days,  for  the 
sake  of  the  men  who  have  to  work  in 
120  degrees  or  more  and  the  young 
plants  that  may  have  had  their  roots 


FIELD -GROWN 

..ROSES.. 


Two  years  old 
On  their  own  roots 
Northern-grown 
Bench-rooted 
Full  Assortment, 


We  are 
Headquarters 
for  them. 


JACKSON  &  PERKINS  CO. 


(Wholesale  only  ) 


NEWARK,  NEW  YORK. 


USE 
LUCAS 


USE 
LUCAS 


PAINT 
GLASS 
PUTTY 


JOHN  LUCAS  &  CO., 

New  York,       Philadelphia,       Chicago, 

Send  for  Sample  Cards  and  Prices. 


J.  L.  DILLON 

Makes  a  Specialty  of 

ForcingRoses 

Grafted  and  on  Their  Own  Roots. 
SEND  FOR  CIRCULAR.  BLOOMSBtRG,  PA. 

Hardy  Roses 

If  in  need  of  strong,  two-year  field  grown 
Hardy  Roses,  please  bear  in  mind  that  we 
are  the  largest  growers  of  this  class  in 
America.  Write  us  for  prices. 

THE    STORRS   &   HARRISON   CO, 

PAINESVILLE,  OHIO. 

AMERICAN  ROSE  CO. 

We  Test  New  Forcing 
Roses. 

WASHINGTON.   D.  C. 
ROSES  AND  ROSES 

Small  Roses  by  the  thousand  and  hundred  thousand, 
also  large  size  two-year-old  Roses  in  season. 

Catalogue  men  will  do  well  to  figure  with  us  before 
placing  their  orders.  We  grow  all  the  best  standard 
and  the  best  of  the  new  kinds.  We  make  a  specialty 
of  large  contract  orders.  We  grow  Geraniums  and  Chrys- 
anthemums and  the  usual  line  and  varieties  of  other 


•eenhouse  plants.    We  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  you. 
indly  state  your  wants  when  you  write.    Address 
THE  C.  A.  REESER  CO.,  URBAN  A.  Ohio. 


£] 


J94 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


very  slightly  disturbed  by  planting. 
If  you  shade  let  it  be  only  a  very  tem- 
porary kind.  A  lump  of  clay  dissolved 
in  a  pail  of  water  and  thrown  on  with 
a  dipper  will  do  very  well.  It  will 
wash  off  at  the  first  rain,  and  then  you 
want  it  off. 

Weeds  grow  apace  in  this  tropical 
heat  and  it's  a  poor  soil  that  won't 
grow  weeds;  they  should  be  kept 
pulled,  not  only  now  but  should  never 
be  seen.  There  is  no  harm  in  a 
scratching  over  of  the  surface  for  a 
month  or  so  after  planting,  but  later 
the  surface  should  not  be  disturbed; 
hand  weeding  should  do  it  all. 

The  young  plants  will  grow  fast,  and 
there  will  be  no  trouble  with  mildew 
till  the  end  of  September,  but  from  that 
time  till  steady  firing  begins  is  the 
most  critical  time,  when  we  have  slight 
frosts  at  night  or  a  rainy  cold  day  and 
night  and  the  next  week  a  warm  sunny 
time  with  the  thermometer  at  80  de- 
grees in  the  shade.  Just  such  a  time 
as  I  have  described  we  have'  lately  ex- 
perienced, and  it  is  80  degrees  at  noon 
to-day  and  no  wind  to  fill  out  the  flap- 
ping sails. 

From  the  time*  the  roses>  are  planted 
till  frosts  occur  they  can't  possibly 
have  too  much  ventilation.  To  digress 
a  moment.  We  noticed  in  Philadelphia 
that  they  leave  the  end  door  open  on 
a  warm  day  in  October,  and  we  hear 
sometimes  of  side  ventilation  on  roses. 
It  may  do  in  some  localities  but  it  wili 
never  do  with  us.  Bottom  or  side  ven- 
tilation or  an  open  door  for  any  length 
of  time  would  be  fatal  because  the 
draught  would  produce  mildew;  pro- 
duce it  to  a  certainty. 

When  the  nights  get  down  to  50 
degrees  outside  you  should  have  a  little 
fire  heat.  Here  is  the  advantage  of 
steam,  as  you  can  let  it  in  through  one 
pipe;  leave  air  on  at  night  when  this 
gentle  fire  heat  is  going.  You  don't 
want  a  high  temperature  but  you 
want  a  dry,  healthy  atmosphere.  All 
along  about  this  time  when  using  any 
artificial  heat  try  to  keep  the  house 
down  to  55  degrees,  and  just  about  this 
time  put  a  dab  of  liver  of  sulphur  on 
the  pipes. 

There  are  times  when  from  various 
causes  you  may  not  ibe  able  to  fire  till 
end  of  October,  and  have  been  with- 
out fire  on  chilly  nights.  By  shutting 
up  the  rose  houses  tight  on  these 
nights  you  will  notice  in  the  morning 
the  dewdrops  in  tiny  beads  on  the 
edges  of  the  pretty  little  leaves.  If 
that  continues  for  three  or  four  nights 
you  will  have  an  attack  of  a  fungus 
that  is  much  worse  than  our  common 
mildew.  I  have  seen  it  take  every 
young  leaf  off  in  a  few  days,  and  actu- 
ally kill  the  young  red  growth.  You 
can  easily  distinguish  it  from  mildew 
for  it  shows  on  the  young,  tender 
leaves  as  distinct  silver  threads.  A 
little  fire  and  air  would  have  effectually 
prevented  this,  but  if  you  can't  fire 
then  leave  on  air.  Far  better  have 
the  house  cool  and  dry,  than  cool,  close 
and  damp.  I  have  learnt  what  this 
fungus  will  do  years  ago,  and  have  not 


Vase  of  Tea  Roses. 


forgotten  it,  for  it  touches  our  most 
sensitive  organ,  the  pocket. 

When  steady  firing  commences  the 
night  temperature  should  be  kept  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  right  mark, 
as  to  which  there  is  not  much  differ- 
ence of  opinion.  Some  growers  like 
to  keep  higher  than  others.  A  reason- 
ably low  temperature  means  fewer 
buds  and  higher  quality,  and  a  higher 
temperature  means  more  buds  and 
poorer  quality.  From  54  to  58  degrees 
at  night  for  all  the  ordinary  Teas 
seems  to  be  agreed  upon,  and  I  incline 
to  the  lowest  mark,  believing  that 
quality  is  better  than  quantity.  Amer- 
ican Beauty  should  have  60  degrees, 
and  the  useful  crimson  Meteor  should 
have  from  65  to  68  degrees.  Without 
a  high  temperature  the  Meteor  is  use- 
less in  the  coldest  months. 

This  fall  at  Mr.  John  H.  Dunlop's, 
of  Toronto,  I  saw  some  grand  houses  of 
roses  ventilated  by  a  thermostat 
which  was  controlled  by  water  pres- 
sure. He  was  delighted  with  it,  and 
if  it  works  perfectly  it  must  be  the 
thing,  for  it  never  forgets.  You  can, 
of  course,  set  them  to  any  degree.  I 


will  have  more  to  say  about  ventila- 
tion in  another  chapter,  but  must  say 
here,  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant parts  of  rose  growing.  Seventy 
at  day  would  be  a  good  temperature; 
when  any  above  that  ventilation  should 
be  given,  and  where  the  ventilators  are 
continuous  and  open  at  the  ridge  it  is 
much  safer  given  than,  with  a  ventila- 
tor here  and  there  that  lets  the  cold 
wind  in. 

There  may  be  days  when  there  is  a 
cold,  cutting  wind,  and  the  sun  will 
raise  the  temperature  of  the  house  to 
75  degrees,  and  it  will  be  better  to  let 
it  remain  so  than  let  in  such  a  chilly 
blast.  Again  there  may  be  dull,  damp, 
mild  days  when  it  is  better  and  proper 
to  fire  briskly  and  give  air.  An  exper- 
ienced gardener  can  tell  directly 
whether  a  house  is  too  chilly  or  too 
hot;  whether  the  sashes  are  up  too  high 
or  whether  the  atmosphere  is  too  close. 
You  ought  to  be  a  living,  breathing 
thermostat,  but  if  you  were  you 
oould  not  divide  yourself  into  twenty 
sections,  and  those  gardening  attri- 
butes are  no  more  transmitted  than 
the  art  of  music  or  poetry  or  telling  a 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


J95 


story.  So  you  must  lay  down  a  rule 
and  your  men  must  follow  it  to  the 
best  of  their  ability. 

Young  roses  of  all  the  kinds  we 
grow  very  quickly  throw  up  buds 
which  you  must  pick  off.  As  the  plants 
grow  along  in  August  and  September 
they  -will  continue  to  form  buds,  and 
instead  of  picking  the  buds  off  as  soon 
as  they  form  let  them  grow  somewhat 
larger.  There  is  little  weakening  of 
the  plant  going  on  by  forming  petals 
(it  is  seed  bearing  that  weakens),  and 
then  cut  the  bud  off  with  two  or  three 
eyes  of  the  growth;  you  will  get  a  bet- 
ter break  from  the  remaining  eyes. 

When  cutting  the  fully  developed 
buds  after  you  are  letting  the  plants 
flower  you  should  cut  back  to  three 
eyes.  If  very  strong  and  the  buds  are 
numerous  you  may  leave  only  two 
eyes,  but  three  is  better. 

The  neatest  and  best  support  for 
roses  is  a  straight  wire  stake,  one  for 
each  plant,  and  they  are  held  in  place 
at  top  by  some  lighter  wire  running 
over  each  row  of  plants  three  or  four 
feet  above  the  plants,  and  to  which 
the  upright  wire  stake  is  fastened  by 
a  string  or  a  piece  of  fine  wire. 

One  large  grower  I  know,  and  a 
good  one,  runs  stove  pipe  wire  across 
the  surface  of  the  'bench,  or  an  inch 
above  it.  near  the  plant,  and  a  similar 
wire  five  or  six  feet  above  the  plant, 
and  from  the  bottom  wire  to  top  one 
runs  at  each  plant  a  strong  but  cheap 
string.  This  answers  the  purpose  just 
as  well,  but  the  strings  are  thrown 
away  every  year  and  the  bottom  wire 
has  to  be  removed,  so  it  costs  some- 
thing, while  the  stout  wire  stake  once 
bought  will  last  indefinitely  or  till  the 
end  of  the  Philippine  war. 

I  have  said  nothing  yet  about  water- 
ing, and  it  is  the  hardest  part  to 
descibe.  To  a  gardener  it  should  be 
only  necessary  to  say,  ''water  when 
they  want  it."  Texture  of  soil  and 
health  and  vigor  of  plant  will  make  a 
difference.  Sometimes  you  will  have 
a  big  cut  all  in  one  week,  especially 
is  this  true  of  the  first  and  second 
cuttings.  Be  careful  then  not  to  over- 
water,  for  the  plants  have  lost  a  great 
deal  of  their  foliage  and  don't  need 
so  much.  Let  the  beds  get  very 
slightly  on  the  dry  side  and  then 
water.  Don't  let  the  hose  run  on  the 
beds  in  a  hard  stream.  A  coarse  rose 
is  a  good  thing;  it  will  leave  the  sur- 
face of  the  bed  in  a  more  friable  state, 
and  you  should  only  give  water  enough 
to  wet  through  to  the  boards.  A  soak- 
ing that  drenches  the  bed  and  runs 
out  through  the  boards  must  carry 
with  it  lots  o<f  the  fertilizing  proper- 
ties of  the  soil  and  manure. 

In  sunny  weather  the  surface  of  the 
bed  will  often  appear  dry  when  an  inch 
down  it  is  abundantly  moist.  If  we  are 
strangers  to  the  texture  of  soil  we  are 
watering,  then  sight  is  not  an  in- 
fallible guide,  but  with  the  addition  of 
a  touch  you  are  dull  indeed  if  you 
don't  know  when  a  plant  or  bed  needs 
watering. 

We  syringe  for  two  purposes.  When 
using  the  word  "syringing"  it  may 


lead  our  brother  craftsmen  across  the 
Atlantic  to  believe  that  we  use  a  brass 
syringe.  "Why,  bless  your  dear  heart, 
don't  you  know,  old  fellow,"  our  boys 
would  get  so  lazy  with  a  hand  syringe 
that  they  would  never  keep  down  the 
red  spider,  and  fancy  a  man,  or  two 
men,  syringing  a  house  600  feet  long 
and  22  feet  wide!  They  would  have  to 
begin  on  the  4th  of  July  to  get  them 
syringed  by  Thanksgiving.  The  3-4 
or  1-2-inch  hose  will  not  only  syringe 
them  as  well  but  much  better,  for  you 
will  do  it  thoroughly  with  that  beau- 
tiful "upper-cut"  so  dear  to  a  real 
gardener. 

Syringing  is  done  on  bright  mornings 
throughout  the  season,  to  produce  a 
genial  healthy  moisture  that  is  relished 
by  the  leaves,  and  it  is  also  done  to 
prevent  the  lodgment  of  red  spider 
on  the  under  side  of  the  leaf  (and  the 
spider  is  ever  ready  to  locate  on  the 
fine  leaves).  If  you  are  free  of  the 
spider  then  don't  syringe  on  wet, 
damp  days  or  very  cold,  stormy  days; 
no  harm  at  all  in  missing  a  day  but 
when  firing  very  hard,  damp  down  the 
paths,  under  the  benches,  etc. 

The  greatest  scourge  to  the  rose 
grower  is  the  mildew,  the  minute  fun- 
gus that  lays  hold  and  soon  covers 
every  leaf.  It  cripples  the  petals,  ruins 
the  leaves  and  stunts  the  plants.  A 
dose  of  it  in  winter  is  a  calamity,  but 
prevalent  as  it  is  our  largest  and  best 
growers  never  fear  it  and  seldom  have 
it,  for  they  know  its  causes  and  never 
give  it  a  chance  to  get  a  start.  Mildew 
is  caused  by  any  check  to  the  vitality 
of  the  plant,  which  shrinks  up  the 
cellular  tissue  and  renders  the  leaves 
susceptible  to  the  resting  spores,  which 
must  be  ever  floating  around.  Per- 
fectly healthy  leaves  resist  it,  as  do 
healthy  lungs  resist  the  germs  of  tu- 
berculosis, while  weak  ones  succumb, 
for  consumption  is  contagious  or  in- 
fectious and  not  hereditary,  as  for- 
merly supposed;  only  in  certain  fami- 
lies there  is  a  predisposition,  and  in 
certain  plants  there  is  most  truly  a 
predisposition  for  mildew.  Catherine 
Mermet  is  always  ready  on  the  slight- 
est excuse  to  be  host  to  this  trouble- 
some fungus,  but  as  once  said  before 
in  these  pages,  these  things  are  all 
right  as  they  are,  and  if  there  was  no 
reward  for  watchfulness,  care  and 
brains,  there  would  be  nothing  in  it 
and  the  wise  man  would  be  no  better 
than  the  fool  man,  which  would  be 
very  annoying  in  this  world,  however 
great  equality  is  to  be  carried  out  in 
the  next. 

A  ventilator  left  open  too  late,  a 
draught  from  an  open  door,  ventilation 
forgotten  till  too  late  in  the  day,  or  a 
sudden  drop  at  night  from  say  56  de- 
grees, their  usual  temperature,  to  46 
degrees  or  less.  Any  of  these  causes 
will  produce  mildew,  and  all  must  be 
guarded  against. 

There  are  several  ways  of  applying 
the  best  remedy,  sulphur.  Mix  it  with 
linseed  oil  and  paint  one  steam  or  hot 
water  pipe.  Sulphide  of  potassium  dis- 
solved and  mixed  with  clay  can  be 
painted  on  the  pipe,  but  do  not  put 


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196 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


too  much  on.  Flour  of  sulphur  thrown 
on  the  plants  does  not  do  much  good, 
as  it  is  not  the  sulphur  itself  but  the 
fumes  you  want.  Sulphur  put  in  shal- 
low pans  or  on  bricks  and  placed 
where  the  sun  will  strike  them  will 
emit  quite  a  little  of  the  fumes.  All 
of  these  can  be  used  as  preventives  or 
as  cures. 

For  aphis  smoking  is  not.  advisable. 
I  am  certain  I  have  seen  its  ill  effects. 
Vaporizing,  as  described  in  chapter  on 
Insecticides,  is  best,  and  the  plan  of 
putting  a  hot  (but  not  red  hot)  piece 
of  iron  into  an  iron  vessel  containing 
either  the  Rose  Leaf  extract,  diluted 
ten  to  one,  or  the  Nikoteen,  reduced 
twenty  to  one,  will  do  first  rate.  See 
that  the  dish  or  iron  pan  is  deep 
enough  so  that  the  liquid  does  not  boil 
over  and  waste  when  the  iron  is  drop- 
ped into  it. 

Those  whose  water  supply  comes 
from  river,  lake  or  reservoir  should 
have  some  means  of  warming  it  in 
winter  and  early  spring.  When  steam 
is  used  this  is  easily  done  by  letting 
the  three-quarter  or  1-inch  water  pipe 
run  through  a  larger  steam  pipe,  but 
when  hot  water  is  used  there  is  no 
chance  to  do  this,  and  it  is  better  to 
have  large  barrels  elevated  in  your 
shed  that  can  be  filled  a  day  ahead, 
and  when  used  the  water  is  about  the 
same  temperature  as  your  shed.  Those 
who  are  away  from  the  cities  and 
towns  have  usually  their  water  tanks 
under  cover  of  their  sheds  with  the 
means  of  warming  the  water  with  a 
steam  or  hot  water  pipe. 

The  water  does  not  need  to  be  warm, 
but  when  it  comes  out  of  our  city 
mains  it  is  little  over  freezing,  and 
to  water  a  rose  bed  with  water  at  that 
temperature  in  January  can't  be  good. 
If  you  can  raise  the  water  to  50  de- 
grees that  would  be  much  better  and 
high  enough. 

Soils  of  different  textures  grow  good 
roses.  Wm.  Paul  &  Son,  some  years 
ago  in  an  advertisement  and  descrip- 
tion of  their  place,  said:  "At  one  nur- 
sery we  have  a  clay  suitable  for  the 
Hybrid  Perpetuals,  and  at  another  a 
light  loam  suitable  for  the  Tea  Roses." 
Those  were  not  just  the  words,  but 
near  enough.  We  have  observed  roses 
growing  finely  in  many  different  kinds 
and  textures  of  soil,  but  I  must  say 
that  the  tallest,  strongest  and  most 
vigorous  Brides  and  Mermets  I  have 
ever  seen  were  in  five  inches  of  clay 
that  needed  a  hammer  to  break  it  up, 
and  that  was  at  the  end  of  December 
and  under  the  care  of  a  man  who  had 
never  tried  his  hand  at  the  business 
till  that  year. 

It  is  useless  to  comment  on  the  dif- 
ferent soils  that  have  grown  good 
roses.  What  we  want  to  know  is 
which  is  the  best  when  it  can  be  had. 
Then  I  would  prefer  above  all  the 
top  three,  or  perhaps  four,  inches  of 
a  rather  heavy  loam  pasture.  Not  the 
pasture  from  an  orchard  that  had  been 
laid  down  forty  years  and  was  moss 
grown  and  the  surface  containing  the 
deposit  of  rotten  leaves,  but  a  good 
fresh  pasture  that  the  cows  had  been 


grazing  on  for  a  few  years.  If  it's  still 
more  on  the  heavy  side,  no  harm.  The 
poorest  soil  of  all  would  be  a  fiberless 
sand. 

On  asking  one  very  large  and  suc- 
cessful rose  grower  what  manure  he 
used,  he  replied  "any  he  could  get," 
and  a  mixture  of  animal  manures  is 
more  likely  to  supply  what  is  needed 
for  the  rose  than  the  use  of  one  would 
be.  But  pure  sheep  manure  must  be 
used  cautiously,  and  a  proportion  of 
one  to  twenty  of  soil  is  enough.  Soil 
is  often  mixed  haphazard,  one  por- 
tion getting  more  manure  or  bone  meal 
than  another. 


Pillar  Rose. 

A  prudent  grower  cuts  his  soil  in 
October  or  November  and  piles  it  up 
under  an  open  shed,  and  a  long  shed 
it  is.  It  is  not  put  under  the  shed  to 
keep  the  rain  from  it,  but  being  dry 
it  can  be  worked  over  earlier  in  the 
spring,  and  the  men  can  work  at  it 
rain  or  shine.  This  is  a  valuable  point. 
He  has  a  frame  made  without  bottom, 
with  handles  extending  at  both  ends. 
The  frame  is  nine  feet  long  by  three 
feet  wide  and  one  foot  deep.  That  is 
just  one  cubic  yard.  As  the  soil  is 
chopped  down  it  is  thrown  into  this 
box  and  when  it  is  even  full  a  certain 
portion  of  manure  is  thrown  on  top, 
and  then  a  portion  of  bone  dust, 
spreading  manure  and  bone  dust  over 


the  surface.  The  frame  is  then  lifted 
up  and  that  lot  is  shoveled  away  into 
a  pile.  By  this  means  there  is  no 
guess  work,  all  parts  of  the  bench 
have  the  same  quality. 

The  quantity  of  manure  (cow  ma- 
nure is  most  often  used)  is  a  matter 
of  opinion.  One-sixth  the  bulk  of  the 
soil  is  quite  enough,  and  one  peck  of 
bone  dust  to  one  yard  will  be  a  good 
but  safe  allowance.  Don't  get  the  bone 
dust  or  meal  too  coarse,  or  it  will  be 
thrown  out  before  you  get  the  benefit 
of  it.  In  placing  the  soil  on  the  bench 
I  have  heard  it  asked,  How  do  you 
keep  the  soil  from  running  through  the 
crack  between  the  boards?  There 
should  always  be  coarse  pieces  enough 
of  the  soil  to  place  over  the  spaces. 
If  not,  some  well  rotted  stable  manure 
will  answer  the  purpose. 

In  shallow  beds,  such  as  all  roses 
are  mostly  grown  in,  they  want  sev- 
eral mulchings.  If  they  have  grown 
fast  and  vigorous  they  will  need  the 
mulching  all  the  more.  If  planted  in 
June  they  can  be  mulched  in  August 
and  again  in  October.  It  is  better  to 
mulch  lightly  and  often.  A  good  mulch 
would  be  well  rotted  cow  manure,  to 
which  add  one  quart  of  bone  meal  to 
a  bushel  of  the  manure  and  one-third 
of  loam,  and  put  on  only  half  an  inch 
each  time.  About  first  of  February 
mulch  again  and  again  in  April.  This 
last  mulch  will  be  not  only  for  manur- 
ing the  plants  but  will  prevent  their 
drying  out  so  fast  and  can  be  a  little 
heavier  than  the  others. 

I  have  had  no  experience  with  liquid 
manure  except  in  applying  it  by  water- 
ing can,  which  is  too  laborious  a  job 
for  a  rose  or  carnation  house.  Where  it 
can  be  pumped  through  the  pipes  or 
run  through  by  gravitation  its  appli- 
cation must  be  very  beneficial,  par- 
ticularly when  the  bed  is  full  of  roots. 
Be  sure  not  to  overdo  it  in  strength. 
A  liquid  made  from  animal  manures 
would  be  the  safest.  Here  is  a  chemi- 
cal liquid,  published  some  time  ago 
and  said  to  be  excellent  for  roses,  car- 
nations or  chrysanthemums.  It  is  a 
formula  published  by  Prof.  Paul  Wag- 
ner, of  Darmstadt,  and  republished 
here  by  Prof.  W.  E.  Britton.  Quanti- 
ties can  of  course  be  increased  to  any 
dimensions: 

Phosphate   of   ammonia oz.    1 

Nitrate  of  soda  oz.    1% 

Citrate  of  potash oz.    1% 

Sulphate  of  ammonia   oz.     1% 

Water  . . gal.  50 

Although  the  American  Beauty  is  a 
widely  different  rose  from  the  Tea  sec- 
tion, yet  its  growing  for  winter  flow- 
ers is  the  same,  and  I  will  say  that  in 
propagating  it  I  have  never  found  the 
slightest  difficulty  at  any  time  from 
November  to  April,  or  even  May. 
Choose  wood  that  is  medium  in 
strength,  and  don't  use  either  the 
green  top  or  the  hard  base.  When  pot- 
ting them  off  I  have  lost  quite  a  num- 
ber by  their  being  left  exposed  to  a 
bright  sun.  Be  careful  to  shade  and 
keep  moist  for  a  few  days.  Let  there 
be  always  two  eyes  to  the  cutting. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


In  growing  them  on  into  3,  or  pos- 
sibly 4-inch  pots,  gTve  them  all  the 
light  and  air  you  can  till  planting  time, 
as  you  do  the  Tea  varieties.  The 
Beauties  want  to  flower  early,  but  the 
buds  should  be  picked  off  till  end  of 
August.  From  then,  till  first  of  Nov- 
ember you  will  get  a  good  many  nice 
buds  with  18  to  30-inch  stems,  and 
the  stems  will  break  again  and  usually 
send  up  another  flowering  stem,  but 
as  soon  as  the  dark  weather  sets  in 
the  break  from  a  strong  'cut  down 
shoot  will  be  blind,  or  practically 
blind,  for  it  may  grow  ten  feet  long 
before  it  flowers.  So,  after  the  first 
of  November  if  you  are  looking  for 
flowers  at  the  holidays,  when  they  are 
worth  $1.50  each,  you  must  let  the 
flower  fully  expand  and  then  cut  it 
off  at  the  neck  and  sacrifice  it.  You 
will  notice  tHat  at  the  axil  of  the  leaf 
just  below  the  flower  there  is  already 
a  young  growth.  That  growth  will 
give  a  flower  six  weeks  later,  and  you 
will  be  getting  a  dollar  for  your  flower 
instead  of  twenty-five  cents,  or  less. 

American  Beauties  are  very  liable  to 
be  troubled  with  red  spider,  and  should 
be  thoroughly  syringed,  but  never  on 
damp,  cloudy  days  or  late  in  the  day. 

iSome  growers  carry  over  for  the 
second  winter  their  beds  of  roses, 
both  on  benches  and  in  solid  beds.  I 
have  never  seen  a  bed  of  this  kind 
equal  to  a  young  well  managed  lot, 
but  they  occasionally  do  very  well  up 
to  about  February.  When  intended  to 


House  of  Meteor  Roses. 

be  grown  on  for  a  second  winter  they 
should  have  a  little  light  shade  in 
June,  July  and  August,  or  they  get  so 
terribly  exhausted.  Plants  in  four  or 
five  inches  of  soil  will  not  bear  to  be 
dried  out  but  very  slightly,  and  that 
better  be  done  in  July.  All  the  pruning 
they  need  is  just  the  blind  and  weak 
and  worn  out  wood  cut.  out.  The  young 
vigorous  growth  should  be  left  un- 
touched. 

Those  in  solid  beds,  say  a  foot  of 
soil,  can  be  dried  off  considerably 
more  and  can  also  be  much  harder  cut 
back.  In  a  foot  of  strong,  heavy  loam 
we  had  a  bed  of  old  Safrano,  Isabella 
Sprunt  and  Bon  Silene  years  ago,  and 
we  used  to  let  the  bed  get  hard  and 
cracked.  About  the  first  week  in 
August  we  pruned  them  back  to  bare 
wood,  gave  them  a  heavy  mulch  of  cow 
manure  and  started  again,  and  I  have 
never  seen  more  roses .  to  the  square 
foot  than  those  plants  produced  for 
several  years. 

The  plan  of  running  hot  water  or 
steam  pipes  through  rubble  stone  with 
a  foot  of  soil  or  less  on  top,  is  I  believe 
abandoned.  It  is  certainly  nonsense 
to  think  that  roses  want  bottom  heat, 
and  no  pipes  are  run  under  a  bench. 
Mr.  Gasser,  of  Cleveland,  who  grows 
roses  largely,  is  a  strong  advocate  of 
a  bench  on,  or  a  few  inches  above  the 
surface,  of  the  ground,  on  which  he 
puts  2-inch  drain  tiles  close  together.  I 
cannot  see  any  advantage  in  this  plan, 
excepting  that  it  affords  a  most  ex- 


cellent drainage  and  would  be  a  fine 
bottom  to  any  solid  bed. 

Roses  for  summer  blooming  are  not 
given  the  attention  that  they  deserve. 
In  June,,  July  and  August  we  frequent- 
ly have  a  difficulty  in  getting  large, 
clean  flowers.  Houses  for  this  pur- 
pose should  run  north  and  south,  be- 
cause they  would  be  the  coolest.  The 
beds  should  ibe  well  drained,  solid  beds 
affording  plenty  of  head  room,  for 
these  plants  will  be  kept  in  the  borders 
for  several  years  and  will  be  a  con- 
siderable size  before  outgrowing  their 
usefulness.  You  must  begin  in  the 
early  spring  with  planting  and  will 
cut  a  very  paying  crop  the  following 
summer  and  fall. 

In  October  all  possible  ventilation 
should  be  given  and  less  water  and 
syringing.  With  a  lower  temperature 
growth  will  cease  and  in  December 
and  January  and  February  if  you  just 
keep  the  house  above  the  freezing 
point  it  is  enough.  A  few  degrees  of 
frost  will  do  no  harm,  but  don't  for- 
get your  water  pipes  if  you  let  the 
frost  in. 

Early  in  March  start  them  up  again. 
As  the  wood  is  firm  and  ripe  and  the 
roots  inactive  these  roses  can  be 
pruned  hard  when  starting  them  in 
spring,  and  will  bear  a  good  heavy 
mulch  of  cow  manure.  Don't  start 
with  too  much  heat  at  once,  but  as 
the  roots  are  undisturbed  they  will 
break  immediately  and  can  soon  be 
given  the  usual  rose  house  treatment. 


198 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


As  all  the  varieties  you  would  grow 
for  this  purpose  belong  to  the  Tea  or 
Hybrid  Tea  class  you  can  make  the 
season  of  rest  still  shorter  and  pick 
good  flowers  up  to  the  middle  of  No- 
vember, and  merely  lower  the  temper- 
ature down  to  35  or  40  degrees  till  end 
of  January,  when  you  can  lightly 
prune  and  start  growing  again. 

For  this  purpose  there  is  no  finer 
white  than  the  grand  Kaiserin  Augusta 
Victoria.  Perle  des  Jardins  is  the  best 
yellow  and  comes  fine  in  the  warm 
weather.  President  Carnot,  the  blush 
white  and  pink  is  splendid  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  for  a  red  Meteor  delights 
in  the  summer  heat.  Old  La  France 
will  flower  to  perfection  with  this 
treatment. 

In  our  largest  cities  the  summer  rose 
does  not  receive  much  attention,  for 
society  is  largely  absent.  In  our 
salubrious  climate  people  stop  here, 
and  besides  that  roses  are  wanted 
every  day  in  the  year. 

My  readers  will  know  more  about 
the  varieties  of  the  Tea  roses  to  grow 
than  I  can  tell  them,  for  they  are 
familiar  to  all.  The  American  Beauty 
stands  first,  if  not  in  quantity  most 
assuredly  in  high  quality,  and  there 
is  nothing  in  sight  to  depose  it.  Bride 
for  white,  and  Bridesmaid  for  a  clear 
pink,  stand  unrivalled,  and  their 
parent,  C.  Mermet,  is  still  a  most  beau- 
tiful pink.  Meteor  is  the  standard  red 
or  crimson,  but  the  beautiful  Liberty 
is  likely  to  depose  it.  If  Liberty  proves 


to  mention  them  may  be  misleading, 
as  they  have  not  yet  been  proved  as  all 
round  worthy  candidates  to  displace 
well  known  kinds.  There  will  be  no 
lack  of  advertising  if  they  prove  them- 
selves desirable  varieties. 

Within  the  past  two  or  three  years 
there  has  been  adopted  by  many  rose 
growers  a  new  method  of  propagat- 
ing, viz.:  grafting.  The  necessity  for 
this  is  because  some  of  our  standard 
varieties,  like  Bride  and  Bridesmaid, 
are  showing  lack  of  vigor,  and  when 
grafted  on  the  Manetti  stock  they 
grow  much  stronger  and  better.  There 
is  no  doubt  the  stronger  and  more 
vigorous  Manetti  stock  must  induce  a 
heavier  growth  to  the  rose.  Unless 
you  are  in  a  large  way  of  business  you 
had  better  buy  your  grafted  stock  if 
you  are  not  satisfied  with  the  way  your 
own  stock  grows.  For  a  full  and  com- 
plete description  of  the  operation  of 
grafting  refer  to  any  of  the  trade  pa- 
pers containing  Mr.  Robert  Craig's  pa- 
per on  that  subject,  read  to  the  Omaha 
convention,  or  to  a  report  of  the  soci- 
ety's meeting.  You  should  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  American  Flor- 
ists; if  not,  you  deserve  to  remain  in 
the  dark.  Briefly  the  operation  is  this: 
The  Manetti  stocks  are  imported  from 
Europe  at  a  very  low  cost.  In  the  fall 
they  can  be  heeled  in  in  a  cold  frame 
till  winter.  In  January  or  February  or 
later  pot  them  in  2^-inch  pots,  and 
stand  on  any  bench  in  about  50  de- 
grees. As  soon  as  you  see  root  action 


ing  of  the  stem  is  where  the  sap  flows, 
and  there  is  where  adhesion  will  first 
take  place.  Match  the  stock  and  scion 
as  neatly  as  you  can  and  then  tie 
round  the  splice  with  raffia  that  has 
been  made  soft  and  pliable  by  wetting. 
Place  the  pots  immediately  in  a  frame 
on  a  bench  where  the  pots  can  bs 
plunged  in  a  heat  of  65  to  70  degrees, 
and  the  tops  kept  close  by  the  glass 
covering.  It  is  well  to  have  partitions 
in  the  frame  for  each  batch,  so  they 
can  be  aired  when  needed.  In  two 
weeks  adhesion  will  have  taken  place 
and  then  some  ventilation  can  be  giv- 
en, and  in  four  or  five  weeks  the 
plants  can  be  removed  to  an  ordinary 
bench.  But  be  careful  not  to  let  too 
much  sun  or  draught  be  upon  them 
for  another  two  or  three  weeks.  For 
the  first  two  weeks  in  the  frame  the 
air  must  be  kept  moist,  but  very  lit- 
tle water  will  be  needed  at  the  roots. 
There  is  very  little  evaporation  going 
on  and  the  stock  has  been  so  mutilat- 
ed that  there  is  little  for  its  roots  to 
do. 

Now  this  seems  an  elaborate  per- 
formance compared  to  sticking  cut- 
tings in  the  bed,  but  it  is  not.  Like  all 
new  jobs,  it  may  be  tedious  at  first, 
but  when  once  familiar  with  the  opera- 
tion it  is  quite  simple. 

In  conclusion  I  will  say  that  in  my 
humble  opinion  there  would  be  no 
need  of  this  more  expensive  method  of 
renewing  our  rose  stock  if  we  were  to 
treat  our  plants  more  rationally.  I 


to  be  a  good  winter  bloomer  the  fate 
of  Meteor  is  sealed,  for  it  is  a  far  bet- 
ter flower,  a  true  Jacqueminot  color, 
bright  and  rich,  and  it  does  not  have 
the  bad  fault  of  Meteor  in  winter. 
Perle  des  Jardins  has  no  rival  in  yel- 
low. Sunset,  its  sport,  is  a  fine  orange 
yellow. 

The  above  will  cover  90  per  cent  of 
all  the  roses  grown  for  cut  flowers, 
but  many  fine  varieties  find  favor  in 
some  localities.  Mme.  Hoste,  Mme.  de 
Watteville,  Belle  Siebrecht,  Mrs.  J. 
Pierpont  Morgan,  Mme.  C.  Testout, 
Papa  Gontier,  Mrs.  R.  Garrett,  and 
others,  are  grown.  Several  new  vari- 
eties are  coming  out  this  winter,  but 


Display  of  Tea  Roses. 

has  commenced,  and  consequently  sap 
rising,  prepare  for  grafting.  Choose 
such  wood  from  the  roses  as  you  would 
for  cuttings,  good  healthy  shoots  and 
about  as  firm  as  when  the  bud  is  de- 
veloped. The  graft  (called  scion) 
make  three  inches  long,  or  a  little  less, 
with  an  eye  and  leaf  on  top.  Cut  the 
Manetti  stock  down  to  two  inches  of 
the  pot  and  cut  both  stock  and  scion 
obliquely,  so  that  they  will  about  fit 
together.  It  is  not  likely  that  the 
scion  will  be  as  thick  as  the  stock, 
which  is  not  of  any  consequence,  but  it 
is  of  utmost  importance  that  one  side 
of  stock  and  scion  should  fit  exactly, 
for  just  below  the  bark  or  outer  cover- 


am  well  aware  it  is  not  a  "new  and 
original"  idea  with  me,  but  I  have 
thought  of  it  very  much  of  late  and 
can  recall  a  few  instances  where  cir- 
cumstances would  lead  me  to  believe 
that  we  are  asking  too  much  of  our 
Tea  roses.  It  can't  be  denied,  that  we 
keep  our  stock  of  roses  up  to  concert 
pitch  the  whole  time,  perhaps  for  seven 
or  eight  years,  or  until  some  new  vari- 
ety replaces  an  older  one. 

A  cutting,  as  before  said  in  these 
pages,  is  not  a  new  individual;  it  is 
merely  the  perpetuation  of  the  old, 
and  without  a  natural  rest  it  must  get 
exhausted.  The  Tea  rose  is  an  ever- 
green, or  nearly  so,  and  a  continuous 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


199 


bloomer;  or  we  make  it  so,  but  its 
parent  or  parents  had  a  period  of  rest 
at  some  time  of  the  year,  that  is  sure. 
But  we  give  none.  Our  cuttings  are 
taken  off  when  the  plant  is  in  most 
active  growth,  the  cutting  is  grown 
along  as  quickly  as  possible  and  made 
into  a  vigorous  young  plant,  and  set 
out  in  June  and  forced  along  in  growth 
and  it  continues  to  grow  until  pro- 
pagating time  again.  Not  a  day  of  ac- 
tual rest,  and  so  the  cycle  revolves, 
but  no  rest  for  the  roses.  Now,  the 
instances  I  remember  was,  first,  a  lot 
of  young  stock  coming  from  a  nursery 
firm  in  Pennsylvania  who  make  a  spe- 
cialty of  roses.  They  arrived  in  April, 
the  cuttings  had  been  strong  shoots 
taken  off  the  previous  fall  and  the 
plants  had  been  wintered  a  little  if 
any  above  freezing.  They  were  what 
we  would  say  of  a  tramp,  "hard  look- 
ing citizens."  Scrubby  looking  leaves. 
They  were  put  into  3-inch  pots  and 
began  to  grow  immediately,  and  when 
planted  out  in  end  of  June  grew  most 
vigorously,  far  surpassing  some  much 
better  looking  plants  that  had  been 
propagated  that  spring  in  the  usual 
way.  Those  plants  had  had  a  winter's 
rest. 

The  other  case  was  on  my  own 
place.  Some  plants  left  over  from 
planting  in  July  were  knocking  about 
the  frames  the  following  fall  and  win- 
ter, and  in  the  spring  stood  under  the 
wall  of  a  shed,  and  occasionally  when 
it  rained  stood  with  their  pots  full  of 


House  of  Tea  Roses. 

water;  in  fact,  abused.  Being  short 
of  fifty  plants  when  planting  in  June 
or  July  we  put  in  these  "runts"  and 
they  simply  started  off  and  grew  pro- 
digiously, far  outstripping  the  good 
looking  young  plants  by  their  side. 

I  believe  and  feel  sure  that  were  we 
able  to  propagate  in  late  spring  or 
early  fall  and  winter  the  plants  in  a 
very  cold  house,  or  in  milder  parts 
in  a  cold-frame,  and  bring  them  along 
slowly  to  planting  time,  we  should  not 
be  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the 
fussy  job  of  grafting. 

One  word  as  a  final.  When  you  want 
to  buy  don't  send  to  the  man  who 
raises  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
plants  for  sale.  Send  to  the  good 
grower  of  flowers  who  has  a  few  thou- 
sand surplus  of  his  own  stock,  and 
never  study  the  price  of  two  cents  on 
a  plant.  It  is  the  height  of  folly  and 
extravagance  to  buy  poor  stock.  One 
single  bud  will  more  than  pay  for  the 
plant. 

SALVIA. 

A  large  genus  of  plants  of  which 
few  are  used  by  the  florist.  S.  splen- 
dens  is  one  of  our  showiest  flowering 
plants.  There  are  now  several  vari- 
eties or  forms  of  it.  It  is  used  as  a 
mass  where  brilliant  colors  are  want- 
ed. They  are  often  rather  late  in 
flowering,  especially  in  wet  seasons, 
and  should  not  be  planted  in  too  rich 
a  sell  or  you  will  get  a  large  growth 
with  late  flowering,  so  procure  a  strain 


that  grows  compact  and  is  early  to 
flower. 

Lifted  before  frost  and  potted  they 
make  showy  plants  for  a  month  or 
two,  and  we  often  find  their  flowers 
useful. 

They  are  easily  raised  from  seed, 
and  there  is  now  a  hybrid  strain  that 
contains  various  colors,  and  is  said 
to  be  early  and  free  flowering. 

A  few  plants  lifted,  and  cut  back 
after  New  Year's,  will  give  you  an 
abundance  of  cuttings  that  will  make 
fine  plants  for  bedding  out.  The  salvia 
is  troubled  with  aphis  and  if  in  a 
warm,  dry  house  and  not  syringed  will 
soon  become  attacked  by  red  spider. 
They  should  never  be  kept  over  50 
degrees.  They  grow  so  fast  and  strong 
that  it  is  best  to  put  off  propagating 
till  March. 

S.  patens  we  have  not  seen  grown 
here,  but  in  the  gardens  of,  Europe  it 
is  much  used.  It  has  very  much  the 
same  habit  as  splendens,  with  erect 
spike  and  the  flower  is  somewhat 
larger;  the  color  is  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful blue  of  any  flower  that  grows. 
Propagate  by  cuttings  same  as  S. 
splendens. 

Salvia  officinalis,  the  variegated 
form  of  this,  the  common  sage,  is  used 
in  carpet  and  other  flower  garden  de- 
signs. The  coloring  is  not  bright,  but 
very  pleasing.  Lift  a  few  plants  when 
the  flower  garden  is  dismantled  and 
in  January  shorten  back  the  shoots. 
You  will  soon  get  any  amount  of  cut- 


200 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


tings  that  root  most  easily.  And  when 
in  2  or  2  1-2-inch  pots  there  is  no 
place  to  make  nice  little  plants  like 
the  hotbed.  It  is  almost  or  quite 
hardy. 

SANTOLINA  INCANA. 

This  almost  hardy  little  herb  is  of 
great  importance  in  the  flower  garden. 
It  can  be  clipped  and  cut  to  any  form 
or  line.  To  design  patterns  in  carpet 
bedding  or  as  an  edging  it  is  invalu- 
able. Its  small,  dense  foliage  has  a 
grey  or  frosted  appearance.  Occasion- 
ally, when  covered  with  snow,  it 
comes  through  the  winter  unharmed, 
but  such  plants  would  not  be  useful 
for  our  flower  gardening  purposes. 

Lift  some  plants  and  pot,  or  put 
them  in  a  flat  in  a  few  inches  of  soil. 
In  February  cut  off  two  or  three  inches 
of  the  tops  and  they  will  send  out 
numerous  growths  that  root  rapidly. 
This  again  is  a  plant  that  quickly 


thawed  in  the  spring  they  should  be 
lifted  and  potted,  when  they  will 
make  their  growth,  the  appearance  of 
which  is  so  useful  in  hanging  baskets 
or  veranda  boxes. 

Few  plants  will  stand  the  hot  sun, 
dryness  and  neglect  so  well  as  the 
sedums.  For  a  border  or  rockery 
there  is  of  course  no  need  of  cold- 
frame  or  pots.  They  can  be  divided 
and  planted  at  once  in  their  perma- 
nent position. 

S.  speciosum,  rose  pink,  good  for 
rockery,  border  or  florist's  use;  S. 
Sieboldii,  pink,  very  good  'basket 
plant;  S.  pulchellum,  pink,  dwarf, 
fine  for  borders;  S.  Rhodiola,  pink, 
dwarf,  fine  for  borders;  S.  ternatum, 
white,  vases  or  baskets;  S.  kamtscha- 
ticum,  yellow,  very  fine  spades  for 
baskets  or  rockery;  S.  Maximowiczii, 
yellow,  handsome,  fine  stems  with 
greenish  purple  leaves. 

There  are  many  species,  but  the 
above  can  be  relied  on  as  some  of  the 
best. 


in  pairs,  charging  for  boxes  or  baskets 
and  using  bell  glasses  belong  to 
another  continent  and  past  age.  But 
this  is  about  seeds  and  not  cuttings. 

In  the  article  on  Asters  I  give  in 
detail  a  method  of  sowing  them  or 
any  other  seeds  of  considerable  size. 
We  are  asked  repeatedly  how  deep  to 
sow  seeds.  There  is  no  rule,  and  out 
of  doors  in  the  garden  you  would 
cover  much  deeper  than  you  would,  in 
the  greenhouse.  A  very  good  rule 
would  be  to  cover  the  seeds  their  own 
thickness,  which  would  be  with  an 
aster  seed  just  out  of  sight,  and  with 
a  gloxinia  so  little  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  measure  it  or  apply  it. 
Still,  we  are  sure  that  a  grain  of  wheat 
or  oats  will  struggle  to  the  surface 
when  buried  six  inches,  and  a  cabbage 
seed  will  send  up  its  leaves  to  the 
light  when  covered  an  inch.  And  these 
depths  are  one  hundred  times  the 
diameters  of  the  seed. 

However,  we  are  not  considering  the 
seeds  in  the  garden  but  how  to  raise 


makes  a  nice,  compact  and  quick 
growth  in  a  mild  hotbed  far  better 
than  on  a  greenhouse  bench. 

SEDUM. 

These  pretty  little,  hardy  peren- 
nials are  known  to  all.  But  a  few  of 
the  species  are  useful  to  the  florist, 
and  they  are  not  cultivated  as  much 
as  they  should  be.  Many  of  the  species 
make  good  plants  for  the  hardy 
border.  Some  are  the  very  best  of 
rock  plants.  And  a  few  are  valuable 
to  the  florist  for  vases  and  baskets. 

They  are  of  the  easiest  possible  cul- 
ture, thriving  in  any  soil  andi  needing 
little  of  it.  They  are  propagated  from 
seeds,  or  by  pulling  the  plant  to 
pieces  and  replanting  in  early  spring, 
but  for  the  florist's  use  are  best  propa- 
gated by  cuttings  in  May.  If  wanted 
in  quantity  the  cuttings  can  be  put 
in  the  cold-frame  in  May  in  the 
ground,  and  when  rooted  remove  the 
sash  and  leave  the  plants  to  grow  all 
summer,  protecting  them  with  sash 
in  winter.  As  soon  as  the  ground  is 


A  Range  of  Connected  Rose  Houses. 

SEED  SOWING. 

By  sowing  seed  is  the  only  method 
that  we  can  get  a  new  individual.  A 
cutting  or  layer  is  only  a  division  of 
the  plant,  and  a  graft  and  bud  is  not 
a  new  plant,  it  is  still  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  same  individual  with  the 
help  of  another  plant's  vigor  and 
strength.  Still,  cuttings  are  the  only 
way  generally  that  we  can  increase 
a  hybrid  or  variety,  and  far  more  stock 
is  increased  by  cuttings  than  by  seeds. 

I  consider  raising  plants  by  seeds 
a  far  more  delicate  and  particular  un- 
dertaking than  our  usual  method  with 
the  cuttings  and  propagating  bed.  And 
just  let  me  say  here  that  within  thirty 
or  forty  years  we  have  wonderfully 
simplified  the  cutting  bed.  There  may 
be,  and  is  occasionally,  the  need  of  a 
closed  case  or  bell  glass  for  propa- 
gating some  of  the  hard  wooded  plants, 
but  I  can  remember,  and  so  can  thous- 
ands of  gardeners,  when  verbenas  and 
petunias  were  put  under  a  bell  glass. 
Just  fancy  how  we  have  progressed 
in  this  line.  Selling  carnation  plants 


them  without  failure  under  glass.  The 
great  Prof.  Lindley  in  his  "Introduc- 
tion to  Botany,"  says:  "It  is  well 
known  seeds  will  not  germinate  in 
the  light."  That  we  know  to  be  per- 
fect nonsense,  for  we  have  all  seen 
many  kinds  of  seeds  grow  in  the  light. 
The  old  seedsman's  way  of  testing 
seeds  was  to  wrap  a  piece  of  wet  flan- 
nel round  a  bottle  and  sticking  the 
seeds  in  the  flannel  and  keeping  the 
bottle  full  of  hot  water.  Mustard  seed 
will  grow  in  the  light  and  so  will  an 
acorn. 

With  seeds  larger  than  those  of  the 
aster  or  verbena  there  is  very  little 
need  of  failure,  and  no  need  of  cover- 
ing _them  more  than  their  depth  be- 
cause our  seedlings  are  soon  to  be 
handled.  But  with  begonias,  calceo- 
larias, gloxinias  and  other  very  min- 
ute seeds  the  operation  is  one  of  great 
care.  Mr.  Fred  L.  Atkins  gives  the 
correct  method  in  an  article  on  glox- 
inias in  The  Florist's  Review,  March 
3,  1898,  page  569,  all  of  which  is  ex- 
cellent. 

The   soil    should   be  well   baked   or 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


201 


scalded  with  boiling  water  to  destroy 
the  seeds  or  spores  of  any  other  vege- 
table growth.  The  pan  or  pot  should 
be  filled  to  within  an  inch  of  the  fine 
soil  with  crocks  and  moss.  The  sur- 
face should  be  of  sifted  soil,  which 
should  be  a  soft  loam  and  leaf-mould. 
The  surface  should  be  smooth  and 
even,  and  to  thoroughly  wet  this  be- 
fore sowing  you  should  stand  the  pan 
in  water.  In  a  few  moments  the  water 
will  soak  up  to  the  surface.  Then  sow 
the  seeds. 

You  are  so  liable  to  sow  these  seeds 
too  thickly  that  great  care  must  be 
exercised.  The  smallest  pinch  between 
your  finger  and  thumb  and  a  vary 
slight  movement  of  the  same  will  with 
care  drop  the  seeds  equally  distribu- 
ted. Then  the  smallest  quantity  of 
clean  sand  distributed  over  the  sur- 
face, not  enough  to  hide  the  color  of 
the  soil  but  just  a  sprinkle.  Then 
press  lightly  the  surface  with  the  bot- 
tom of  a  clean  pot.  Let  the  surface  of 
the  soil  be  an  inch  below  the  top  of 
the  pan. 

Mr.  Atkins  recommends  covering 
the  surface  with  green  moist  moss 
and  then  over  it  a  sheet  of  glass.  We 
sometimes  use  a  piece  of  wet  cheese 
cloth  instead  of  the  moss,  which  can 
be  dampened  with  the  Scollay  sprink- 
ler, and  as  there  is  so  little  evapora- 
tion there  will  be  little  need  of  water, 
but  the  glass  and  moss,  or  cloth, 
should  be  removed  once  a  day  to  see  if 
they  are  dry  in  any  spot. 

Directly  you  notice  the  seeds  germin- 
ating remove  the  covering  and  tilt  up 
one  side  of  the  glass,  and  as  the  little 
plants  get  stronger  remove  the  glass 
entirely.  The  Scollay  sprinkler  will 
water  the  surface  while  the  plants  are 
very  young,  and  when  stronger  you 
can  dip  the  pans  in  water  and  let  it 
quietly  run  over  the  surface;  that  is 
better  than  a  coarser  sprinkling.  When 
the  seeds  are  well  up,  and  by  careful 
handling  they  should  never  be  allowed 
to  draw  up,  the  seed  pans  should  be 
given  the  fullest  light,  but  never  al- 
lowed to  get  parched  by  the  sun. 

However  grown,  plants  may  rel'sh 
to  be  occasionally  on  the  dry  side  and 
then  soaked.  Small  seedlings,  par- 
ticularly at  the  critical  time  of  ger- 
mination, should  be  kept  at  a  uni- 
form moisture.  Seed  pans  can  be  kept 
in  a  house  5  or  10  degrees  warmer 
than  you  would  grow  the  plants,  but 
as  soon  as  well  up  should  be  placed 
in  the  temperature  most  suited  to  the 
plant  when  growing. 

All  seedlings,  with  hardly  an  excep- 
tion, should  be  transplanted  into  other 
pans  or  flats  as  soon  as  they  can  be 
handled;  particularly  is  this  the  case 
with  those  that  you  have  sown  thickly. 
A  sudden  drying  will  often  wilt  and 
destroy  many  young  seedlings,  and 
forgetfulness  to  shade  is  often  disas- 
trous. At  the  same  time  it  is  most  es- 
sential that  the  little  plants  should 
have  the  fullest  light,  for  if  you  start 
off  with  a  drawn,  spindling  plant  you 
have  seriously  handicapped  your  fu- 
ture success. 

Now,   all   the   points   related   above 


are  easy  to  follow,  but  the  great  thing 
is  to  follow  them  faithfully.  A  watch- 
maker can  throw  down  his  tools  and 
leave  his  watch  for  a  week  and  re- 
turn and  take  up  his  task  with  the 
loss  only  of  time,  but  you  can't  leave 
a  week  or  a  day,  or  hardly  an  hour. 
It  is  the  care  and  watchfulness  and 
everlasting  attention  and  thoughtful- 
ne£s  that  makes  the  gardener,  far  more 
than  scientific  action,  either  mental  or 
physical. 

Don't  blame  the  seedsman  always. 
I  must  at  the  cost  of  being  thought 
egotistical  say  that  for  years  I  never 
blamed  a  seedsman  when  perhaps  I 
had  a  reason.  I  blamed  my  own 
clumsiness,  and  carelessness. 
.  The  man  who  has  charge  of  the 
seeds  should  be  given  plenty  of  time, 
for  he  needs  it. 


among  foliage  plants  in  a  veranda  box, 
the  branches  of  this  plant  often  reach- 
ing a  height  of  eighteen  inches  or 
more. 

S.  Martensii  is  another  well-known 
and  deserving  species,  the  flat  branch- 
lets  of  which  are  quite  effective  among 
the  plants  in  a  table  fernery.  This 
species  is  very  easy  to  increase  by 
means  of  cuttings,  these  being  potted 
up  at  once  in  light  sandy  soil  without 
the  preliminary  treatment  of  the  cut- 
ting bed,  and  only  require  to  be  kept 
moist  and  sheltered  from  too  much 
sun  and  air  until  they  take  root. 

This  species  has  also  provided  us 
with  one  of  the  best  variegated  forms 
found  among  the  selaginellas,  namely, 
S.  Martensii  var.,  the  branchlets  of 
which  are  variably  marked  with  white. 
S.  Martensii  var.  also  roots  readily 


Selaginella  Cuspidate. 


SELAGINELLA. 


Among  the  large  number  of  species 
(over  300  in  all)  of  the  selaginellas 
there  are  comparatively  few  that  are 
used  in  the  trade,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  there  are  several  of  the  spe- 
cies easily  procurable  and  readily 
grown  into  very  attractive  pot  plants. 
It  is  true  that  selaginellas  in  general 
prefer  moisture  and  shade,  and  in  con- 
sequence are  somewhat  tender  in  fo- 
liage, but  this  rule  does  not  hold  good 
in  all  cases,  some  of  the  species  bear- 
ing exposure  fully  as  well  as  many  of 
the  commercial  species  of  ferns. 

An  example  of  this  is  found  in  S. 
Braunii,  a  Chinese  species  that  has 
been  long  in  cultivation,  and  that  is 
frequently,  though  incorrectly  labelled 
S.  Willdenovi.  The  branches  of  this 
species  are  very  tough  and  wiry,  the 
leaves  small  and  deep  green  in  color, 
and  it  not  only  forms  a  very  pretty 
plant  in  a  4  or  5-inch  pot,  but  is  also 
well  adapted  for  growing  into  a  large 
exhibition  specimen,  or  to  be  used 


from  cuttings,  it  being  necessary,  how- 
ever, to  select  well-variegated  pieces 
in  order  to  perpetuate  the  variegation. 

The  freak  of  variegation  is  not  con- 
fined to  S.  Martensii,  for  it  also  ap- 
pears in  the  common  S.  Kraussiana 
var.,  and  also  in  S.  involvens,  the  lat- 
ter being  quite  prolific  in  singular 
forms. 

S.  Kraussiana,  also  known  as  S.  den- 
ticulata,  is  perhaps  the  most  familiar 
example  of  this  interesting  family, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  useful  plants 
we  have  for  carpeting  the  surface  of 
the  soil  beneath  other  plants,  or  for 
beautifying  otherwise  bare  spaces  be- 
neath the  benches  of  a  conservatory. 

]S.  cuspidata  is  another  useful  spe- 
cies, a  plant  of  which  is  illustrated 
herewith.  It  will  be  readily  noted  that 
this  illustration  bears  some  resem- 
blance to  S.  Bmiliana,  a  variety  that 
has  been  very  largely  grown  for  a  few 
years  past  for  filling  table  ferneries, 
and  the  explanation  of  this  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  S.  Bmiliana  is  simply 
a  form  of-  S.  cuspidata.  Cuttings  of 


13 


202 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


this  species  soon,  take  root  in  sand  or 
sandy  soil,  and  become  compact,  tuft- 
ed little  plants  in  a  few  months  when 
grown  in  an  ordinary  fern  house. 

S.  viticulosa  illustrates  another  form 
of  growth  that  we  find  in  this  diverse 
family,  this  species  being  better 
adapted  for  use  as  a  pot  plant  than 
to  be  mingled  in  a  fernery,  its  branch- 
lets  being  large  and  standing  up  like 
the  fronds  of  a  fern.  These  branchlets 
are  thrown  up  from  creeping  stems, 
and  do  not  root  readily,  consequently 
the  propagation  of  this  plant  usually 
depends  upon  division,  or  from  spores. 
A  good  idea  of  this  handsome  species 
may  be  had  from  the  accompanying 
photograph. 

S.  serpens  is  a  singular  member  of 
this  family  that  is  quite  common  in 
gardens  and  forms  a  dense  mat  of 
closely  rooting  branchlets  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  soil.  The  great  peculiarity 
of  this  species  isi  found  in  its  changes 
of  color  during  the  day,  the  foliage  be- 
ing bright  green  in  the  morning,  but 
gradually  becomes  much  paler,  as 
though  bleached  by  the  light,  finally 
resuming  its  lively  green  hue  at  night. 

Of  the  selaginellas  that  are  especial- 
ly valuable  for  private  collections  or 
for  exhibition  purposes  a  long  list 
might  easily  be  made,  and  prominent 
among  them  should  be  mentioned  such 
beautiful  species  as  S.  Wallichii,  S. 
Vogelii,  S.  Lyallii,  S.  Wildenovii,  that 
very  strong  growing  scandent  species 
with  the  strong  metallic  tints  on  its 
foliage,  a  species  that  has  been  tossed 
about  on  the  waves  of  nomenclature, 
being  sometimes  S.  caesia  arborea, 
again  S.  laevigata,  and  finally  S.  Wil- 
denovii. Also  S.  haematodes,  S.  atro- 
virides,  and  S.  rubricaulis,  all  of  which 
are  worthy  of  more  extended  cultiva- 
tion, though  not  all  are  quite  so  easy 
to  manage  as  the  few  we  have  special- 
ly referred  to  for  commercial  purposes. 

W.  H.  T. 

SHADING. 

I  have  had  occasion  to  mention 
shading  many  times  in  reference  to 
plants  that  need  it  under  glass.  We 
are  as  yet  without  any  portable  shad- 
ing that  can  be  adjusted  to  our  com- 
mercial greenhouses.  The  wooden  slat 
shading  applied'  to  some  private  con- 
servatories is  out  of  the  question  for 
the  commercial  man,  and  if  expense 
did1  not  forbid,  it  is  too  dense. 

Many  of  our  plants  that  thrive  in 
the  broad  sun  will  burn  up  under 
unshaded  glass.  This  last  July  having 
occasion  to  remove  the  glass  in  a 
house  to  paint  and  reglaze,  we  left 
many  plants  standing  on  the  benches 
fully  exposed  to  sun  and  air.  Among 
them  I  noticed  Primula  obconica  and 
P.  Forbesii  and  several  kinds  of  flow- 
ering begonias.  Before  the  glass  was 
put  on  again,  perhaps  three  weeks,  the 
plants  had  made  a  great  improvement 
in  their  growth,  strong  and  robust. 
If  the  glass  had  been  on  without  shad- 
ing it  would  have  been  a  different 
story. 

We  can  at  least  use  a  light  cloth 
on  our  frames  over  such  plants  as 


cyclamen  and  others  that  are  much 
the  best  in  frames  during  summer. 
A  stout  pole  a  little  longer  than  the 
width  of  the  frame  with  cheese  cloth 
tacked  to  it  is  easily  and  quickly  un- 
rolled or  rolled  up. 

We  frequently  are  tardy  in  putting 
on  shading  and  then  daub  on  a  heavy 
coat.  Put  on  a  thin  coat  where  needed 
and  add  another  when  the  sun  is 
stronger,  and  if  you  will  go  to  the 
trouble  of  plunging  many  of  our  com- 
mon plants  in  refuse  hops  or  decayed 
leaves  you  will  find  th'3ir  growth  much 
better,  and  you  can  delay  or  dispense 
with  shading  entirely. 

Supposing  you  have  a  house  full  of 
geraniums  or  cannas  which,  as  soon 
as  sold,  say  end  of  May  or  early  June, 
will  be  filled  with  chrysanthemums. 
If  you  shade  for  these  plants  you  must 


well  supplied  with  its  bright  red  ber- 
ries. Its  leaves  are  bright  green, 
holly-like,  and  the  plant  has  a  fine, 
compact  habit.  Small  plants  not  over 
one  foot  in  height  are  of  most  use. 

It  can  be  raised  easily  from  seed  or 
cuttings  in  the  usual  way,  made  from 
the  young  growths  in  spring.  Cut  back 
the  shoots  slightly  in  February  and 
give  it  a  good  light  house  and  warmth 
and  moisture.  After  flowering  and 
the  berries  are  set  they  can  be  plunged 
in  a  frame  out  of  doors  and  removed 
to  a  cool  greenhouse  before  frost. 

S.  oblata  is  said  to  be  still  more 
handsome  and  needs  the  same  treat- 
ment. 

Any  good  loam  will  grow  them,  and 
except  when  growing  in  the  spring 
they  thrive  in  a  cool  house. 


Selaginella  Viticulosa. 


certainly  brush  it  off  again  for  the 
mums  for  they  don't  want  and  must 
not  have  any  shade.  Quite  as  impor- 
tant as  putting  it  on  early  with  such 
plants  as  palms  and  ferns  is  taking 
it  off  in  good  time.  Begin  end  of 
August  to  remove  the  shade  and  by 
middle  of  October  have  it  all  off. 

We  are  frequently  asked  what  is 
the  best  material?  We  have  tried 
many  mixtures,  and  best  of  all  like 
naphtha  and  white  lead  without  any 
oil.  We  tried  common  coal  oil  in- 
stead of  naphtha,  but  it  is  too  greasy. 
Try  the  mixture  before  you  settle  on 
the  thickness  of  it. 

We  have  also  tried  applying  it  with 
a  syringe,  and  are  entirely  opposed  to 
it.  It  saves  labor  but  you  will  use 
more  material  than  will  twice  pay 
for  the  labor,  and  when  put  on  with 
a  long  handled  brush  it  is  properly 
done.  This  mixture  rubs  off  easily 
when  dry  and  the  hose  makes  a  clean 
job  of  it. 

SKIMMIA  JAPONICA. 

This  is  a  greenhouse  shrub  from 
Japan  and  is  very  ornamental  when 


SMILAX    (MYRSIPHYLLUM  ASPAR- 
AGOIDES). 

This  useful  climber  and  twin-er 
seems  to  have  been  grown  here  com- 
mercially long  before  its  great  use- 
fulness was  appreciated  in  Europe. 
Though  the  more  graceful  looking  as- 
paragus has  superseded  it  in  our  deco- 
rations it  is  still  a  standard  article 
with  all  commercial  florists,  and  in  fu- 
neral decorations  there  is  no  equal  to 
it. 

One  author  says  it  is  propagated 
by  "seeds,  cuttings  and  divisions."  I 
have  never  heard  of  its  being  rooted 
from  cuttings,  and  to  divide  it  would 
be  absurd  as  it  is  so  easily  raised  from 
seed. 

Seed  should  be  sown  in  flats  and 
covered  an  eighth  of  an  inch,  in  Feb- 
ruary. Good  fresh  soil  is  now  always 
supplied.  When  two  or  three  inches 
high  pot  off  into  2-inch  pots  and 
keep  in  a  temperature  anywhere  above 
50  degrees.  If  you  expect  the  best  re- 
sults from  your  newly  planted  bed 
you  ought  by,  middle  of  May  to  give 
these  little  plants  another  shift  into 


203 


a  3-inch.  Getting  strong  plants  to 
plant  out  in  June  will  give  you  an 
extra  crop  over  small,  weak  plants. 
And  although  you  often  see  them 
standing  under  a  bench  in  May  and 
June  that  is  not  the  way  to  produce 
well  rooted,  strong  plants. 

Make  your  Smilax  bed  in  the  center 
of  the  house  on  the  ground  with  seven 
or  eight  feet  of  head  room;  and  more 
is  better.  If  the  floor  of  the  house  is 
naturally  dry  you  want  no  prepara- 
tion, but  make  the  bed  seven  or  eight 
inches  above  the  surface  and  confined 
with  a  brick  or  plank  wall. 

I  have  tried  several  kinds  of  soil. 
The  worst  smilax  I  ever  grew  was  in 
a  light  sand,  and  the  best  was  in  a 
stiff  loam,  such  a  soil  as  roses  like, 
with  the  addition  of  one-fourth  of  rot- 
ten cow  manure.  Plant  at  end  of  June 
or  very  early  in  July. 

If  you  intend  to  renew  the  bed  every 
year,  which  I  strongly  advocate,  then 
plant  ten  inches  between  the  rows  and 
six  or  seven  inches  between  the  plants. 
Run  a  wire  across  the  bed  just  be- 
hind the  row  of  plants,  and  a  corre- 
sponding wire  near  the  roof,  and  at 
each  plant  run  up  a  string  of  silkaline. 
It  is  invisible  when  cut  and  saves  you 
much  bother  when  using  the  smilax 
because  there  is  no  need  of  pulling  it 
out. 

Keep  down  weeds  from  the  start 
and  frequently  teach  the  little  growths 
that  they  are  to  climb  up  the  strings. 
When  once  started  they  are  no  trouble, 
and  when  a  crop  is  cut  and  a  new 
growth  is  starting  replace  the  strings 
at  once.  We  are  guilty  of  neglect  and 
I  have  seen  days  of  labor  spent  over 
a  smilax  bed  that  was  allowed  to  grow 
without  strings  a  few  weeks  and  had 
to  be  unravelled  and  started  up  the 
strings  much  to  the  harm  of  the 
growths. 

When  growing  fast  smilax  likes  and 
must  have  an  abundance  of  water  and 
should  be  daily  syringed  to  keep  down 
red  spider.  It  should  be  also  fumiga- 
ted, but  not  heavily  or  it  will  turn  the 
tips  of  the  leaves.  Vaporizing  with 
tobacco  extract  would  avoid  that,  but 
with  proper  care  we  have  no  trouble 
with  the  smoke. 

When  a  crop  is  fit  to  cut  or  your 
business  demands  that  you  cut  it,  be- 
gin at  one  end  and  clear  it  as  you  go. 
When  the  plant  is  denuded  of  its  entire 
growth,  as  it  is  when  you  cut  the 
strings,  it  does  not  want  water  till 
it  begins  to  send  up  more  growth.  I 
have  seen  the  roots  rotted  by  a  heavy 
watering  just  after  cutting  off  the 
strings,  and  when  the  thick,  fleshy 
roots  rot  they  raise  a  bad  smell,  very 
similar  to  decayed  Solanum  tuberosum, 
alias  potato. 

When  cutting  the  strings  don't  let 
a  crude  hand  ruthlessly  chop  off  all 
the  growth.  There  may  be  several 
strong  young  shoots  a  foot  or  eighteen 
inches  high  that  will  quickly  make 
another  string. 

By  planting  last  of  June  you  ought 
to  get  four  crops  before  planting  time 
again,  and  will  if  the  temperature  of 
the  house  is  kept  never  less  than  60 


degrees  at  night  throughout  the  win- 
ter, and  if  it  is  65  degrees  so  much  the 
better;  contrary  to  what  would  be  the 
case  with  most  plants  the  warmer  you 
grow  it  the  harder  it  is  providing  it  is 
matured  when  cut.  Being  naturally 
a  twiner  among  trees  it  likes  the 
shade,  and  is  best  shaded  in  summer 
and  early  spring. 

I  am  sure  it  is  wisest  to  plant  every 
year.  You  get  more  strings;  they  are 
a  more  useful  size,  and  easier  man- 
aged. After  the  second  crop  is,  cut, 
about  New  Year's,  the  bed  will  be 
greatly  benefited  by  a  top  dressing  of 
an  inch  of  loam  and  cow  manure. 
Their  strong  asparagus-like  crown  of 
roots  soon  works  to  the  surface  and 
need  this  mulching.  The  smilax  is  a 
heavy  feeder,  so  a  strong  soil,  plenty 
of  water  when  growing,  and  a  good 
heat,  suits  it. 

SOILS. 

Although  various  soils  have  been 
often  alluded  to  as  most  suitable  for 
different  plants  I  cannot  impress  on 
you  too  much  the  importance  of  being 
always  well  supplied  with  this  most 
necessary  article  of  our  business. 
We  too  frequently  are  careless  and 
often  falsely  economical  in  not  buying 
a  good  pile  of  soil.  Greenhouse  estab- 
lishments in  or  near  cities,  or  where 
by,  its  growth  has  surrounded  them, 
have  often  a  difficulty  in  getting  a 
good  supply,  and  it  is  too  often  a  case 
of  get  what  you  can.  I  have  learnt 
lately  that  when  a  teamster  asks,  "do 
you  want  twenty  loads  of  good  earth'?" 
you  had  better  investigate  at  once,  and 
if  it  is  good  buy  it;  you  don't  know 
when  you  will  get  the  next. 

We  pay  out  without  a  murmur  thou- 
sands of  dollars  for  fuel,  but  squirm  a 
good  deal  over  one-quarter  the  amount 
for  soil  and  manure.  And  if  by  these 
words  I  have  made  you  think  seriously 
how  important  a  matter  is  good  soil 
I  will  have  done  you  some  good. 

Those  having  five  or  six  acres,  or 
better,  fifteen  acres,  can  help  them- 
selves off  their  own  place,  and  they 
should  take  care  and  husband  their 
land  or  they  will  find  that  with  broad 
acres  they  can  soon  use  it  up  and  have 
little  in  the  right  condition.  No  one 
nowadays  thinks  of  using  soil  for  roses 
or  carnations  or  violets  the  second 
year,  and  these  crops  take  a  great  deal 
of  soil. 

When  an  acre  is  what  we  call 
"skinned,"  three,  four  or  five  inches 
deep,  it  should  be  restored  as  soon  as 
possible  with  the  soil  that  comes  out 
of  the  benches.  P«t  as  much  back  as 
you  took  away,  and  what  you  put 
back  will  be  good  soil,  for  while  in 
use  in  the  greenhouse  you  added  ani- 
mal manure,  bone-meal  and  other  fer- 
tilizers. You  can  grow  a  crop  of  pota- 
toes on  it  the  first  summer,  or  use  it 
for  your  planted  out  crops  for  a  couple 
of  years,  or  better  still,  after  the  po- 
tatoes lay  it  down  to  winter  wheat  and 
sow  clover  in  the  spring  and  in  two 
years  plow  the  clover  under,  and  you 
have  a  grand  field  for  your  carna- 
tions. 

I  have  proved  within  a  few  years, 


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204 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


what,  not  being  a  farmer  I  only  knew 
by  report,  that  a  growth  of  a  foot  of 
clover  plowed  under  is  a  wonderful 
agency  in  mellowing  and  fertilizing 
•any  land  unless  it  be  a  black  muck. 
Farmers  consider  red  clover  a  foot 
high  plowed  in  for  wheat  equal  to  an 
ordinary  dressing  of  farm  yard 
manure.  Other  pieces  of  your  farm 
should  be  after  a  year's  tillage  laid 
down  with  timothy  or  red  top,  and  in 
two  or  three  years  you  have  again  a 
sod  for  your  roses.  Even,  in  country 
villages  you  cannot  always  buy  good 
soil.  The  thrifty  farmer  does  not 
want  to  skin  his  land  at  any  price,  and 
the  indigent  farmer,  who  is  sure  to 
have  a  good  sized  mortgage  on  it,  dare 
not  or  Mr.  Mortgageholder  will  step 
in  and  forbid,  and  quite  right  he 
should.  The  majority  of  unthinking 
men  are  very  glad  to  get  the  loan 
on  their  property  but  when  interest 
comes  due  turn  round  and  abuse  the 
loaner  for  a  Shylock. 

There  is  often  a  very  poor  provision 
made  for  keeping  soil  over  winter. 
Flower  growers  who  have  large  places 
in  the  country  don't  feel  this  so  much, 
but  even  they  need  a  shed  where  the 
soil  can  be  hauled  under  when  it  is  dry 
and  in  good  condition.  In  the  fall  it  is 
a  great  help.  If  taken  under  cover  in 
October  and  no  rain  or  snow  falls  on 
it  during  winter  it  can  be. brought  in 
even  if  frozen  at  any  time,  and  when 
it  thaws  it  will  fall  to  pieces  and  be 
mellow  and  be  usable  in  a  short  time, 
but  if  in  the  open  and  saturated  with 
water  when  frozen  and  brought  in  in 
frozen  chunks  it  will  be  days  and  per- 
haps weeks  before  it  can  be  used.  How 
long  it  takes  in  winter  in  our  sheds  to 
dry  out. 

The  plant  man  uses  the  great  bulk 
of  his  soil  from  March  1st  to  middle 
of  April,  and  it  is  very  seldom  that 
even  at  the  latter  late  date  our  outside 
soil  heap  is  dry  enough  to  handle,  so 
you  should  either  have  a  shed  with  a 
big  supply,  which  can  be  got  at  during 
any  weather,  or  else  an  ample  supply 
stored  in  your  potting  sheds  in  fall, 
enough  to  last  you  till  the  first  of  May. 
We  speak  from  experience  and  know 
what  it  is  to  be  running  round  in  April 
for  a  few  loads  of  soil  and  offering 
as  much  for  a  load  as  would  have  pur- 
chased ten  in  September.  I  don't  like 
soil  under  the  benches  if  it  can  be 
helped. 

Soil  is  much  better  mixed  with 
manure  several  months  before  using 
than  mixing  on  the  potting  bench  just 
before  potting.  A  good  pile  of  soil 
(sod  if  possible)  should  be  piled  up  in 
July  or  August  with  a  layer  of  manure 
every  six  inches,  about  a  fifth  or  sixth 
of  its  bulk,  built  up  square,  three,  or 
four  feet  high,  and  then  thoroughly 
soaked.  And  in  four  or  five  weeks 
chopped  down  and  thrown  in  a  long 
ridge  to  shed  the  rain.  If  you  have 
time  another  turn  over  will  be  all  the 
better  and  in  a  dry  time  in  October  a 
good  supply  of  this  should  be  stored  in 
your  potting  shed  or  some  place  under 
cover. 

I  make  no  pretense  to   any  know- 


ledge of  the  chemical  ingredients  of 
soil,  and  however  desirable  it  would 
be  that  all  gardeners  did  have  that 
knowledge,  it  is  not  necessary  to  a 
practical  acquaintance  and  use  of  soi's. 
Soils  all  the  world  over  have  very 
much  the  same  properties. 

Broadly,  they  consist  of  two  kinds, 
that  made  or  deposited  from  vegetable 
matter,  like  peat  or  what  you  will  find 
on  the  surface  of  clays  a  few  inches 
of  vegetable  deposit  which  is  the  de- 
posit of  centuries  of  forest  leaves;  and 
the  others,  clays  and  sands  or  loams, 
is  the  grinding  up  of  surface  rocks 
which  have  been  largely  distributed 
and  deposited  during  the  glacial 
period. 

Peat,  such  as  you  hear  of  in  Europe, 
and  especially  in  Ireland,  is  largely 
the  growth  of  water  mosses,  perhaps 
the  growth  of  thousands  of  years.  The 
remains  of  the  moss  can  be  plainly 
seen  near  the  surface,  but  a  few  feet 
down  it  is  so  decomposed  that  it  is 
not  discernible.  The  German  peat 
moss  imported  largely  to  this  country 
from  Silesia  for  horse  bedding  is 
sphagnum,  hardly  old  enough  to  call 
peat,  for  you  can  plainly  see  the  re- 
mains of  the  moss  in  it.  Jadoo  is 
simply  that  with  some  chemical  fer- 
tilizer injected  into  it. 

Plants  of  the  Heath  family  like  this 
peat  because  their  fine  roots  work 
easily  in  it  and  it  retains  moisture, 
but  it  is  not  always  an  infallible  guide 
that  nature  can  not  be  improved  on, 
and  because  you  find  a  plant  strug- 
gling along  in  a  certain  soil  in  a  state 
of  nature  is  no  proof  that  with  a 
richer  and  better  soil  it  will  not  im- 
prove. 

There  are  extensive  sphagnum  bogs 
scattered  over  this  country,  and  it  is 
likely  there  are  some  that  if  drained 
would  afford  us  the  same  excellent 
material  that  is  found  in  Europe,  and 
notably  in  Bagshot,  Surrey,  where  the 
rhododendrons  are  cultivated  by  the 
hundreds  of  acres  in  such  excellence 
and  profusion. 

The  bulb  fields  of  Holland  are  a 
black  peat  or  muck.  Perhaps  that 
country  and  Belgium,  called  the  low 
countries  because  most  parts  are  many 
feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea,  was 
fifty  thousand  years  ago  one  vast  moss 
bog,  and  most  likely  it  was,  for  there 
are  the  remains  of  ancient  primitive 
man  who  built  his  hut  on  stilts  and 
lived  on  the  shallow  lakes  and  sub- 
sisted'on  Crustacea,  for  there  are  the 
remains  of  his  kitchen  refuse.  The 
Hollander  and  Belgian  would  not  raise 
such  crops  were  he  not  to  saturate  the 
soil  with  manure  every  third  year. 
This  peat  is  useful,  and  we  see  by  the 
splendid  azaleas,  etc.,  that  they  grow 
that  it  suits  them,  but  it  is  not  indis- 
pensable and  our  most  important 
plants  can  be  grown  without  it. 

Where  our  soil  is  sand  or  clay  we  do 
not  avail  ourselves  of  what  we  might, 
and  that  is  leaf-mould.  Hundreds  of 
us  see  thousands  of  loads  of  leaves  of 
maple,  oak,  and  elm  burnt  up  every 
autumn  when  if  they  were  collected 
and  mixed  or  covered  with  sufficient 


earth  or  manure  to  keep  them  from 
blowing  away  they  would  be  invalu- 
able for  many  of  our  plants.  Roses 
and  carnations  do  not  need  them  but 
all  our  hard  wooded  plants  that  like 
peat,  and  our  begonias,  fuchsias,  ferns, 
in  fact  any  of  the  soft  wooded  plants, 
would  be  benefited  by  their  use.  It 
is  a  tedious  job  raking  them  up,  but  in 
many  of  our  streets  and  parks  and 
cemeteries  they  are  raked  up  for  you. 
In  the  country  you  can  always  find 
in  some  hardwood  forest  places  where 
the  wind  has  laid  up  for  years  de- 
posits of  these  leaves,  and  you  should 
always  have  a  good  supply  on  hand. 

When  leaves  are  collected  the  same 
fall  that  they  drop  it  will  take'  two 
years  before  they  are  fit  to  use,  and 
more  than  that,  unless  they  get  fre- 
quent turning.  I  would  consider  a 
heap  of  maple  leaves  well  rotted  by 
frequent  turnings  and  to  which  had 
been  added  when  first  collected  a  third 
or  fourth  of  their  weight  of  cow 
manure,  a  regular  heap  of  gold  dust 
for  adding  to  your  loam  for  "cycla- 
men, or  most  any  other  plant. 

Refuse  hops  turned  frequently  make 
a  good  substitute  for  leaf-mould,  and 
I  have  even  used  it  on  carnation 
benches  in  the  old  days  of  La  Purite 
and  Edwardsii  with  the  very  best  re- 
sults. 

We  value  the  hotbeds  not  only  for 
their  use  in  raising  plants  cheaply  and 
well  in  the  spring  but  the  "by- 
product," the  old  bed  put  up  in  a  pile 
and  the  following  spring  and  summer 
turned  over  and  chopped  down  once 
or  twice,  makes  the  most  useful  in- 
gredient for  our  potting  soil.  In  fact, 
for  geraniums,  coleus,  cannas  and 
most  bedding  plants  it  is  all  you  want 
added  to  your  loam  if  you  are  minus 
that  good  pile  that  I  first  spoke  of. 

There  are  great  growing  qualities 
in  clay  soils,  even  in  clay  taken  a  foot 
below  the  surface,  as  we  have  often 
seen  proved  by  rose  growers,  but  it 
should,  if  necessity  compels  its  use, 
be  exposed  a  winter  to  the  frosts,  and 
when  used  must  needs  have  consider- 
able manure  to  make  it  mechanically 
right.  Clay  alone  will  go  down  too 
solid  and  be  too  retentive  of  moisture, 
and  for  our  plants  in  pots  would  be 
not  at  all  desirable. 

The  worst  of  all  soils  is  a  gritty 
sand,  and  you  sometimes  find  this  on 
the  surface.  Our  cuttings  grow  in 
sand  for  a  short  while  but  soon  show 
the  need  of  something  better.  When 
sampling  soil  if  it  feels  gritty  to  the 
hand  don't  have  anything  to  do  with 
it;  it  is  mostly  particles  of  sand  what- 
ever its  appearance.  If  a  soil  feels 
smooth,  or  as  it  is  technically  called, 
"silky,"  you  have  the  right  stuff. 

Sometimes  we  have  to  avail  our- 
selves of  soil  that  has  been  cultivated 
as  a  garden  for  yearsj  If  you  know 
that  it  has  been  well  supplied  with 
manure  it  will  grow  most  of  your 
plants,  for  it  is  rich.  But  there  is 
something  about  sod  that  has  been  cut 
a  few  months  that  is  not  equalled,  by 
any  soil  that  has  been  tilled,  however 
much  manure  has  been  used.  The 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


205 


roots  of  the  grass  keep  it  open  and  in 
a  good  mechanical  condition  however 
firm  you  mak8  it,  and  there  may  be 
something  more;  in  decaying  the  roots 
and  fibres  may  emit  bacteria  that  are 
of  great  usefulness  to  the  roots.  As 
we  depend  on  a  bacteria  to  do  our 
digesting,  and  possibly  another  one  to 
do  our  thinking,  it  is  quite  likely  that 
in  the  process  of  decomposition  this 
vegetable  matter  generates  or  emits 
a  valued  species.  Certain  it  is  that  a 
good  fibrous  loam  is  the  sheet  anchor 
of  our  soils.  More  important  than  any 
fine  quality  or  mixture  of  soil  is  to 
have  plenty  of  it  available  at  all  times. 
Up  to  a  3-inch  pot  you  have  to  sift 
through  a  half  or  three-quarter  inch 
mesh,  after  that  we  never  sift  soils  ex- 
cept for  seeds.  From  a  3  to  a  4-inch 
ar;d  upwards  we  only  chop  the  soil. 
This  is  most  important.  Somebody,  I 
forget  who,  cursed  the  sieve,  and  he 
was  right.  Use  it  as  little  as  possible. 
Chop  your  soil  or  break  it  up  with  a 
digging  fork,  but  don't  sift  it. 

SOLANUM. 

This  grand  genus  (for  a  genus  that 
gives  us  the  potato  must  be  grand) 
contains  some  species  that  are  used  as 
ornamental  plants. 

I  wonder  why  the  universally  used 
tuber  is  called  the  Irish  potato.  Per- 
haps it  is  because  its  jacket  comes  off 
so  easy  when  it's  hot,  or  perhaps  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  first  introduced  it  at 
Cork.  If  he  had  overlooked  it  John 
Smith  would  have  taken  it  to  Europe, 
and  if  Sir  Walter  had  gone  exclusively 
into  the  potato  business  on  his  return 
and  not  aspired  to  the  hand  of  old 
Queen  Elizabeth  he  might  have  saved 
his  head.  But  his  head  was  of  little 
consequence  to  future  generations,  and 
we  have  the  potato  that  has  sustained 
life  among  thousands. 

In  some  rural  districts  they  have  po- 
tatoes as  a  steady  diet,  mostly  with 
salt,  and  for  a  change  without  salt.  I 
once  took  supper  with  a  rural  florist 
and  the  solid  edibles  consisted  solely 
of  fried  potatoes  and  a  blessing.  The 
latter  lighter  commodity  came  first,  so 
its  inappropriateness  was  not  so  ap- 
parent. And  with  pleasure  we  lo~k 
back  at  the  evening  and  hope  we  may 
never  want  for  a  fine  dish  of  potatoes. 
A  volume  could  be  written  on  t"  e 
many  ways  of  cooking  potatoes  in  this 
its  native  land,  but  at  a  cheap  board- 
ing house  of  our  first  experience  we 
do  not  think  there  was  so  much  vari- 
ation in  the  method  of  cooking  as  in 
the  varieties  of  grease  used. 

The  Jerusalem  cherry,  S.  Capsicas- 
trum,  is  very  ornamental  when  well 
grown.  Select  seeds  from  a  compact 
growing  plant,  sow  in  February  or 
March  in  a  good  heat  and  grow  in  2- 
inch  pots  till  frost  is  gone.  Plant  out 
on  a  light  and  rather  poor  soil.  You 
don't  want  a  vigorous  growth,  but 
want  a  dwarf,  compact  plant  and  plen- 
ty of  flowers.  If  the  fruit  is  set  before 
you  lift  them,  so  much  the  better. 
They  must  have  no  frost.  They  come 
in  finely  for  the  holidays  and  will  do 
in  any  greenhouse;  when  well  berried 


they  are  very  attractive  and  sell  well, 
and  can  be  sold  cheaply,  as  they  have 
occupied  room  on  the  benches  but  a 
short  time.  Pinch  them  when  first 
planting  out  and  again  if  they  are 
growing  straggling. 

.  STEPHANOTIS  FLORIBUNDA. 

This  beautiful  flower  was  once  much 
used  for  the  choicest  bouquets  and  de- 
signs, but  since  the  advent  of  the  long- 
stemmed  flowers  there  is  not  the  same 
use  for  it.  Its  fine,  pure  white,  waxy 
flowers  of  delicous  fragrance  commend 
it  to  all  who  have  a  warm  house.  It 


STEVIA. 

The  only  species  we  grow  and  find 
profitable  is  what  we  know  as  serrati- 
.  folia,  or  sweet  stevia.  It  is  an  easily 
grown  plant,  but  the  flower  is  light 
and  feathery,  so  that  we  value  it  high- 
ly at  the  holidays,  and  common  as  it 
may  be  we  should  miss  it  very  much. 

After  flowering  cut  dowii  the  plants 
to  within  six  inches  of  the  pots  and 
stand  them  in  some  cool,  light  house. 
You  will  get  a  great  many  cuttings 
from  a  few  plants.  Propagate  in  Feb- 
ruary or  March,  and  plant  out  end  cf 


Bunch  of  Stevia. 


is  a  true  climber  and  should  be  planted 
out  in  a  well  drained  border  of  coarse 
loam,  but  its  roots  are  best  confined  so 
that  they  don't  ramble  too  far.  It  is 
also  grown  in  large  pots  and  trained  to 
a  wire  frame.  Mealy  bug  is  its  worst 
enemy,  but  it  will  endure  any  amount 
of  syringing. 

A  piece  of  the  stem  of  the  previous 
year's  growth  will  root  freely,  but  pro- 
pagation is  not  of  consequence;  one  or 
two  plants  is  all  you  want.  A  plant  I 
remember  very  well  was  trained  along 
the  roof  of  a  small  propagating  house. 
It  was  in  a  12-inch  pot,  but  its  roots 
had  long  ago  passed  through  the  pot 
into  a  bed  of  coal  ashes,  and  every 
spring  it  bore  hundreds  of  its  lovely 
umbels  of  flowers. 

That  was  an  object  lesson  of  the 
virtue  of  coal  ashes;  but  it  has  been 
long  known  and  frequently  demonstrat- 
ed in  our  houses  that  coal  ashes  will 
suit  many  plants.  A  neighbor  of  mine 
uses  them  entirely  in  place  of  sand 
for  his  propagating  houses  and  suc- 
ceeds quite  equal  to  those  using  sand. 


May.  Any  garden  soil  will  do.  They 
should  be  at  least  two  feet  apart.  Stop 
them  frequently  till  end  of  August. 

Before  any  danger  of  frost  lift  and 
pot  into  6  or  7-inch,  but  let  the  plants 
stand  outside  as  long  as  you  can. 
When  you  have  to  take  them  in  give 
them  the  coolest  (but  light)  bench  you 
have.  You  want  them  at  the  holidays, 
and  if  kept  light  and  very  cool  they 
will  be  robust  and  stout  and  give  you 
fine  spikes.  Never  let  frost  touch 
them,  but  they  will  thrive  in  a  very 
low  temperature. 

STOCKS. 

The  Ten  Week  stocks  are  beautiful 
summer  flowers,  favorites  with  all. 
Their  cultivation  is  very  simple  and 
for  sowing  seed  and  after  care  see  As- 
ter. They  embrace  many  and  varied 
colors,  from  crimson  to  purest  white. 

We  grew  for  many  years  a  pure 
white  train  of  the  Ten  Week  which 
made  a  handsome  dwarf  pot  plant,  as 
well  as  being  useful  for  the  flowers, 
but  there  is  not  now  the  same  use  for 
it. 


206 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


The  Intermediate  and  East  Lothian 
Stock  is  much  raised  in  Europe  for 
winter  blooming.  Sow  in  August  and 
September  and  as  soon  as  the  seed 
leaves  are  formed  put  into  2-inch  and 
shift  on  and  flower  in  5-inch,  and  if 
wanted  for  spring  use  keep  in  cold- 
frame. 

The  Brompton  Stock  is  the  most 
handsome  of  all,  and  where  it  does  not 
freeze  more  than  15  degrees  in  winter 
it  is  a  grand  flower.  I  have  seen  spikes 
of  the  Brompton  that  I  am  sure  were 
more  than  a  foot  long  and  three  inches 
in  diameter,  and  in  a  cottage  garden. 
They  are  a  biennial,  and  if  attempted 
here  should  be  sown  in  August,  win- 
tered in  a  cold-frame  and  planted  out 
in  spring.  In  a  more  temperate '  cli- 
mate they  should  be  planted  in  the 
border  in  October. 

STORE  MANAGEMENT. 

The  evolution  of  the  florist's  store 
from  its  beginning,  with  most  of  us 
twenty-five  years  ago  and  with  the 
oldest  not  more  than  forty  years,  is 
remarkable.  It  has  kept  pace  with  the 
enormous  increase  in  the  use  of  flowers 
and  perhaps  has  bean  no  little  incen- 
tive to  our  patrons  in  the  laudable  lux- 
uury  of  the  use  of  flowers. 

We  can  all  remember  when  the 
seedsman  in  many  of  our  cities  com- 
bined cut  flowers  and  plants  with  his 
business.  Now  the  line  is  as  distinctly 
drawn  between  the  seed  store  and  the 
flower  store  as  between  a  bank  and  a 
barber  shop,  although  I  have  heard 
with  surprise  and  regret  that  one  of 
our  most  widely  known  New  York 
wholesale  and  retail  seed,  bulb  and 
requisite  houses  has  recently  opened 


Bed  of  Ten-Week  Stocks. 

a  cut  flower  department.  This  is  to  be 
regretted;  it  is  a  step  towards  the  de- 
partment store  and  is  to  be  con- 
demned, in  our  line  particularly  and 
on  principle  generally.  We  all  re- 
member exhibitions  called  florists' 
stores. 

When  the  florist  first  essayed  to  rent 
a  store  and  make  it  his  exclusive  busi- 
ness, the  window  decorations  consisted 
in  the  main  of  straw  baskets,  a  stuffed 
dove  and  some  beautiful  designs  in 
wheat,  all  suggestive  of  the  inevitable, 
but  nothing  to  gladden  the  eye  or 
heart.  The  gradual  transition  to  the 
modern,  first  class  store  of  today  would 
be  interesting  to  note  were  it  any  ben- 
efit, and  what  will  be  the  appearance, 
appointments  and  tempting  luxuries  of- 
fered to  the  public  by  the  florist  of  a 
future  generation  would  be  highly  in- 
teresting could  we  foresee  the  hig/her 
development  of  our  business.  From  a 
basement  or  a  narrow,  cheap  store  the 
florist  now  demands  the  best  stores  in 
our  very  best  streets. 

Before  I  attempt  to  say  what  a  high 
class  retail  store  should  be  it  is  quite 
pertinent  to  mention  a  few  things  that 
it  should  not  be.  The  florists  and 
their  clerks  (or  more  properly  shop- 
men) must  have  the  reputation  for 
good  temper,  civility  and  a  most  pa- 
tient and  obliging  disposition,  for  the 
florist  is  asked  more  questions  and 
more  little  favors  than  any  other  class 
of  shopkeepers.  If  a  lady  faints  in 
the  street  car  she  is  carried  into  the 
florist's  store.  If  a  glass  of  water  is 
wanted  by  a  temperance  man,  if  your 
neighbor  wants  to  use  the  telephone, 
if  a  stranger  wants  to  know  where  Mr. 
Tile,  the  hatter,  is,  or  even  when  one 
lady  will  meet  another,  it  is  all  at  Mr. 


Bud's,  the  florist,  that  they  come  in.  A 
civil,  polite  answer  should  be  given  to 
all.  Perhaps  by  discreet  affability  you 
have  made  a  friend. 

You  store  snould  never  be  Known  as 
a  place  where  other  florists  congre- 
gate. If  they  have  any  business  with 
you,  let  them  do  it  quickly  and  get  out. 
No  loungers  of  any  kind1,  friends  of 
your  own  or  of  your  employees,  male 
or  female,  should  be  tolerated  dur- 
ing business  hours.  Book  agents,  and 
what  we  are  fearfully  pestered  with, 
advertising  agents,  should  receive  a 
civil  but  short  answer.  Drummers  of 
all  kinds  should  be  put  in  a  back  room 
to  wait  your  convenience,  or  if  that  is 
not  agreeable  to  them  then  told  to 
come  around,  if  you  need  them,  after 
business  is  over.  Be  sure  and  avoid 
having  a  group  of  three  or  four  grow- 
ers in  the  rear  of  your  store  discuss- 
ing with  animation  the  merits  of  the 
new  carnations.  If  you  are  a  grower 
yourself  break  up  the  meeting  by  lead- 
ing them  around  the  corner;  it  is 
cheaper  and  there  they  can  argue  with 
lubricated  energy  while  you  step  back 
to  attend  to  your  business,  for  in  these 
days  of  keen  competition  and  all  try- 
ing to  excel,  nothing  but  the  closest 
attention  to  all  departments  o  f  your 
business  will  bring  even  moderate  suc- 
cess. 

To  be  known  as  a  reliable  and 
prompt  business  man  among  your  pa- 
trons is  a  blessing.  To  have  the  repu- 
tation of  a  good-natured,  jolly  fellow 
among  your  brother  florists  is  a  mis- 
fortune. You  can  be  good,  you  can  be 
jolly,  even  a  philanthropist,  but  in 
self-defense  and  self-preservation  sub- 
ordinate the  effervescence  of  your  good 
nature  till  the  appropriate  occasions 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


207 


View  from  the  Front. 


View  from  the  Rear. 
A  Well  Appointed  Florist's  Store, 


208 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


arrive.  Your  lady  customers  notice 
loungers  and  it  makes  an  unfavorable 
impression,  deeper  and  more  lasting 
than  their  pleasant  features  indicate. 

Every  wide-awake  man  will  know 
what  locality  is  best  suited  to  his  busi- 
ness in  his  own  city.  Where  business 
men  pass  to  and  fro  is  the  best  of  all 
location^,,  for  with  due  resp-ect  to  the 
gentler  sex  the  men  are  our  best  cus- 
tomers. The  ladies  may  be  the  inspira- 
tion by  which  they  buy,  but  through 
the  men  come  our  best  sales.  They  buy 
quicker,  larger  and  want  the  best  re- 
gardless of  cost.  The  fashionable 
shopping  district  of  our  cities  is  the 
place  for  a  florist's  store,  and  I  think 
I  have  seen  some  cities  where  with  ad- 
vantage a  good  store  could  be  opened 
a  long  way  from  the  business  center  of 
the  city  but  in  the  residential  part  of 
the,  town. 

Your  store  should  be  always  clean, 
neat  and  attractive.  Your  window  is 
the  chief  advertisement  of  your  busi- 
ness and  that  should  never  be  two 
days  alike.  Some  men  may  have  a 
large  stock  of  flowers  and  place  a  large 
quantity  in  their  window;  yet  they 
were  put  in,  or  rather  jammed  in,  re- 
gardless of  color  or  taste  and  were  no 
attraction  to  the  cultivated  taste  of 
the  passer-by.  You  may  not  be  able 
to  have  360  varieties  in  one  year,  but 
you  can  always  change  it  sufficiently 
so  as  to  appear  to  the  public  fresh  and 
new  each  day,  and  let  there  be  some 
distinctive  feature  each  day.  'A  very 
first  class  florist  in  one  of  our  large 
western  cities  who  keeps  six  or  seven 
young  men  in  the  store  allots  to  each 
one  in  turn  the  duty  of  arranging  the 
window  display. 

Some  may  say  many  flowers  can  be 
used  up  and  wasted  in  these  window 


Corner  in  a  Florist's  Store  in  November. 


decorations.  There  need  be  little  waste 
if  properly  managed,  for  it  is  not  the 
quantity  but  the  taste  displayed  that 
makes  an  attractive  window,  and  if  it 
does  cost  something  in  sacrifice  of 
flowers  it  is  far  cheaper  than  any  othor 
kind  of  advertising.  On  a  recent  win- 
ter visit  to  Philadelphia,  in  a  fine  win- 
dow of  the  leading  florist  of  Chestnut 
street  the  window  decoration  was  a 
heavy  branch  of  an  elm  tree,  extend- 


A  Florist's  Store  at  Easter. 


ing  the  whole  width  of  the  window 
and  on  it  at  intervals  were  tied  sprays 
of  Cattleya  Trianae.  Thousands  we;  e 
stopping  to  admire  it.  This  is  the 
idea,  and  whether  it  be  orchids  or 
only  a  vase  of  coreopsis  it  should  be 
clean,  neat,  fresh,  distinct  and  a  gem 
if  possible. 

As  in  poetry  so  in  flowers;  it  is  not 
volubility  that  is  highly  appreciated,  it 
is  the  clear  cut  gems  that  immortalize 
their  authors.  Longfellow's  "Village 
Blacksmith"  is  worth  a  whole  library 
of  gush  and  slush  which  often  passes 
for  poetry. 

The  interior  of  your  store  should  be 
also  attractive.  Where  a  rushing 
business  is  done  there  must  be  some 
little  confusion,  but  the  making  up  or 
boxing  of  flowers  can  be  done  in  the 
rear  and  not  at  the  counter  where  sales 
are  made.  The  ice-box  is  a  great  fea- 
ture of  the  present  flower  store.  Next 
to  the  window  it  is  the  principal  at- 
traction and  should  not  be  in  a  remote 
corner  but  should  be  conspicuous  to 
every  one  who  enters  the  store.  If  a 
man  enters  the  store  to  purchase  a 
5-cent  carnation  for  his  buttonhole  he 
may  be  attracted  by  the  beautiful 
flowers  in  the  glass  case,  and  if  they 
have  not  tempted  him  sufficiently  to 
affect  his  pocket  they  have  made  a 
favorable  impression,  and  it  is  by  a 
succession  of  favorable  impressions 
followed  by  good  and  prompt  service 
that  fortunes  are  made,  not  by  sudden 
leaps  into  popularity. 

The  salesmen,  and  sometimes  they 
are  women,  should  be  as  neat,  clean 
and,  if  possible,  as  attractive  as  their 
surroundings.  The  young  men  should 
neither  chew  tobacco  nor  the  girls 
gum,  eat  onions,  drink  beer  or  any- 
thing stronger  during  business  hours. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


209 


The  ability  or  genius  to  make  a  sales- 
man is  a  gift  with  birth.  Ability  can 
be  greatly  improved  by  study  and  ex- 
perience and  an  earnest  endeavor  to 
reach  the  ideal,  but  a  thoroughly  ac- 
complished salesman  is  as  much  a 
genius  as  a  great  painter  or  sculptor. 

I  am  by  no  means  one  of  those  who 
believe  that  genius  is  the  steady  ap- 
plication and  industry  devoted  to  a 
certain  object.  Such  is  the  definition 
by  some  modern  philosopher  (Carlyle, 
I  think)  of  genius.  My  humble  opin- 
ion is  that  genius  is  inherited  from  an 
ancestor  or  ancestors,  immediate  or  re- 
mote, and  improved  and  glorified  by 
the  chance  of  environment.  So  if  you 
have  not  the  gifts  that  make  a  good 
salesman  seek  other  departments  of 
the  business.  If  a  man  has  no  faculty 
behind  the  counter  he  may  be  a  good 
decorator,  or  in  the  packing  and  dis- 
patch of  orders  he  may  show  great  ex- 
ecutive ability. 

A  little  book  was  handed  me  many 
years  ago  by  my  brother.  Its  title 
was,  "How  to  Make  Money  and  How 
to  Keep  It."  As  the  book  came  from 
a  fine  public  library  I  devoured  it  with 
eagerness,  confident  I  had  struck  a 
jewel.  The  first  part  of  the  book  was 
devoted  to  advice  in  the  various  mer- 


Two  Views  in  a  Florist's  Store. 


cantile  walks  of  life  and  every  chap- 
ter finished  off  strongly  and  impressed 
on  the  reader  "to  be  polite."  Over 
and  over  again  was  the  simple  instruc- 
tion, "Be  polite."  The  latter  part  of 
the  book  could  be  summed  up  in  a 
few  words,  which  are  simply  this: 
After  you  have  acquired  a  competence 
in  some  pursuit  you  understand,  don't 
go  into  a  business  or  enterprise  you  do 
not  understand. 
Undoubtedly  politeness  is  a  great 


factor  to  success,  and  cannot  possibly 
be  out  of  place  with  every  class  of  your 
customers.  The  quantity  and  quality 
of  the  affability  shown  your  customers 
is  pure  tact,  and  too  much  suavity  in- 
discreetly applied  is  as  bad  as  none  at 
all.  This  is  the  part  of  the  salesman's 
ability  that  is  a  natural  gift  and  so 
hard  to  acquire.  The  hurried  man  of 
business,  often  our  most  liberal  buyers, 
wants  no  superfluous  chat  of  any  kind. 
Neither  does  the  aristocratic  lady  who 


forgets  her  grandfather  carried  a  hod. 
The  motherly  matron  may  want  to 
tell  you  about  her  sick  husband  or  her 
injured  limb  caused  by  the  runaway 
of  her  team.  For  her  you  have  an  at- 
tentive ear  and  sympathy,  and  so  you 
should  for  the  worthy  but  poor  people 
who  want  some  flowers  for  a  bereave- 
ment. To  accommodate  them  with 
their  wants  to  match  their  purse  is 
tact.  We  can  no  more  have  all  pleas- 
ant people  to  purchase  our  goods  than 
we  can  expect  all  church  members  to 
be  virtuous  people.  We  must  adapt 
ourselves  to  our  customers'-  tempera- 
ment as  far  as  possible  without  losing 
self-respect.  This  is  not  hypocrisy, 
it  is  fitting  ourselves  to  the  require- 
ments of  our  business. 

All  articles  should  be  just  what  they 
are  represented  or  promised.  A  bunch 
of  roses  that  will  fall  to  pieces  when 
taken  from  the  box,  violets  that  have 
been  twenty-four  hours  in  the  ice-box, 
or  carnations  about  to  close  their  pet- 
als in  slumber,  will  be  very  disappoint- 
ing and  leave  with  your  patron  an 
impression  that  takes  a  lot  of  good  be- 
havior to  efface. 

There  are  too  many  retailers  that 
have  only  one  price,  and  supposedly 
only  one  quality  of  flowers.  If  you  are 
only  going  to  keep  one  quality  then  it 
should  be  the  best,  and  some  very  high 
class  stores  may  find  it  unprofitable 
to  do  otherwise,  but  the  great  major- 
ity of  florists  have,  and  want  to  have, 
several  grades  of  flowers  in  the  lead- 
ing articles.  Take  carnations,  for  in- 
stance, we  have  been  too  much  on  the 
one  price  system.  "What  do  you  charge 
for  your  carnations?"  "Fifty  cents  a 
dozen,"  or  some  price,  according  to 
season,  is  the  same  old  answer.  It 
should  be  more  in  this  style:  "These 
are  $1.50  per  dozen,  these  $1.00,  these 
75  cents,  and  we  have  some  not  so  fine 


2JO 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


worth  50  cents."  The  same  with  roses 
and  violets  and  all  other  flowers.  It  is 
the  same  with  all  other  businesses, 
and  why  not  with  ours,  where  quality 
varies  so  greatly?  • 

The  most  important  feature  in  our 
business  next  to  quality  of  goods  and 
polite  attention  to  customers,  is 
promptness.  Many  an  elderly  man  is 
worrying  to  get  his  orders  off  prompt- 
ly on  the  time  promised  and  agreed  for 
their  delivery,  while  his  shopmen  are 
lolling  around  with  the  serene  manner 
and  thought  that  the  old  man  need  not 
fret  himself,  the  wedding*  is  not  till  7 
o'clock,  or  tha  party  till  3  p.  m.,  or  the 
funeral  till  tomorrow.  When  these 
events  occur  is  no  business  of  yours; 
you  have  promised  the  order  at  a  cer- 
tain hour  and  you  should  never  fail  to 
keep  your  promise.  There  may  be  sev- 
eral reasons  why  the  order  was  wanted 
at  a  certain  hour,  of  which  you  were 
entirely  unaware.  No  part  of  the  busi- 
ness is  more  important  than  prompt- 
ness, and  in  no  part  do  I  notice  a 
greater  inclination  to  ignore  it.  A 
reputation  for  a  late  and  disappointing 
delivery  is  a  deplorable  handicap  to 
success. 

Finally  the  three  great  requisites  to 
success  are  to  keep  and  supply  a  good 
article,  be  prompt  and  deliver  all  or- 
ders how,  when  and  where  you  prom- 
ised, and  treat  your  customers  with 
polite  deference  and  respect.  If  you 
are  asked  for  an  article  which  you  do 


one  grown  by  the  commercial  florist. 
The  young  shoots  root  readily  in  an 
ordinary  propagating  bed.  They  grow 
quickly  and  if  given  much  root  room 
will  not  flower  for  a  long  time.  They 
are  hardly  of  consequence  enough  to 


SWEET  PEAS. 

Of  late  years  the  greatly  improved 
varieties  and  beautiful  colors  of  the 
sweet  peas  have  brought  them  up  to 
be  one  of  our  most  important  spring 


Two  Views  of  a  Store  Interior. 


not  have,  procure  it  if  possible  to 
oblige,  but  never  promise  what  you  are 
afraid  you  cannot  supply.  You  will 
never  seriously  offend  a  customer  by 
declining  an  order,  but  you  will  have 
given  great  offense  by  promising  and 
not  fulfilling. 

SWAIJNSONA    GALEGIFOLIA. 

There  are  red,  pink  and  white  forms 
of  this  plant  and  the  latter  is  the  only 


occupy  bench  room,  but  where  you 
have  a  chance  to  plant  them  out  in  a 
box  or  confined  space  at  the  end  of  a 
house  the  flowers  will  be  at  times  very 
useful. 

Pot  very  firmly  in  some  good,  coarse 
sod.  They  can  be  thinned  out  and  cut 
back  in  the  spring.  A  carnation  house 
temperature  will  suit  them  very  well. 
I  know  of  no  use  that  we  can  make  of 
them  as 'small  plants. 


flowers.  And  what  can  be  more  truly 
springlike,  for  these  you  cannot  have 
any  day  in  the  year  as  we  do  now  have 
many  of  our  other  flowers.  Early 
April  is  as  soon  as  sweet  peas  are  seen 
in  any  quantity,  and  they  are  then  a 
luxury,  but  middle  to  end  of  June  they 
are  everybody's  flower,  and  as  long 
as  they  last  are  favorites  with  all.  We 
have  seen  cool,  moist  summers  when 
the  peas  lasted  till  cut  off  by  frost,  but 
usually  our  hot,  dry  August  winds 
them  up. 

For  forcing  under  glass  they  can  be 
sown  in  early  September.  If  you  de- 
vote a  whole  bench  to  them  the  rows 
ought  to  run  north  and  south  and  be 
2  feet  6  inches  apart.  Sow  thinly  and 
support  with  chicken  netting.  My  ex- 
perience is  that  in  a  solid,  deep  bed 
under  glass  they  grow  too  strong  and 
do  not  flower  freely,  so  I  would  rather 
give  them  six  inches  of  soil,  rather 
heavy  and  firm,  with  little  if  any  ma- 
nure. The  first  bed  we  tried  under 
glass  in  a  fine,  light  house  was  a  fail- 
ure because  the  roots  had  too  much 
room  and  too  good  a  soil. 

We  sow  a  few  seeds  by  the  iron  sup- 
ports in  our  carnation  houses  on  the 
north  side  of  a  middle  bench.  They 


LONG'S 

FLORISTS'  PHOTOGRAPHS, 

FLORAL  ART  CATALOGUE. 

Blank  Order  Sheets,  Stationery, 
Stock  Booklets  and  Folders, 

Florists'  Printing  to  order.       Lists  and  Samples  free. 
Write  to   DAN'L  B.  LONG,  Publisher,  Buffalo,  N.Y. 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


Interior  and  Exterior  Views  of  a  New  York  Store, 


2J2 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


take  up  little  room  till  February  and 
as  they  grow  the  light  is  growing 
stronger  every  day.  They  certainly  do 
impair  the  growth  of  one  or  two  car- 
nation plants,  but  you  will  get  ten 
times  the  money  from  these  sweet 
peas  that  you  would  from  the  plant  or 
two  of  carnations.  Two  or  three 


rows.  It  will  help  keep  the  ground  moist 
and  be  of  the  greatest  benefit  when 
you  water.  Unless  we  get  a  rainy  sea- 
son you  must  water.  Give  the  ground 
not  only  close  to  the  plants  but  all  the 
surface  a  thorough  soaking  twice  a 
week  if  you  want  your  crop  to  last.  An- 
other important  thing  to  observe  is  to 


days  is  of  great  importance  in  the 
sweet  pea  market  in  spring. 

Within  a  few  years  the  varieties  of 
sweet  peas  have  become  very  numer- 
ous, and. many  of  them  of  great  beauty. 
Mr.  Eckford  has  been  largely  instru- 
mental in  this.  Mr.  Eckford  first  be- 
came  an  enthusiast  on  the  verbena 
and  later  turned  his  attention  to  sweet 
peas.  Mr.  E.  has  probably  never  heard 
of  the  writer,  but  when  I  was  10  years 
old  I  knew  him,  when  he  first  went 
to  be  head  gardener  to  Dr.  Martin,  of 
Purbrook,  Hants,  England.  Dr.  Mar- 
tin was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  dentist- 
ry, who  charged  $10  to  look  in  your 
mouth,  $10  more  to  pull  a  tooth,  and 
$50  more  for  a  new  one.  But  as  he 
spent  his  leisure  time  and  money  in 
gardening  his  extravagant  charges 
were  most  commendable. 

Some  of  the  finest  sweet  peas  are  a.s 
follows:  Mrs.  J.  Chamberlain,  white 
striped  rose;  Lovely,  beautiful  pink; 
America,  white  striped  red;  Stanley, 
deep  maroon;  Ramona,  pale  pink; 
Maid  of  Honor,  white  tipped  lilac; 
Golden  Gleam,  primrose  yellow;  Mars, 
bright  crimson;  Countess  of  Radnor 
Improved,  fine  lavender;  Royal  Rose, 
very  fine  rose;  Lady  Penzance,  orange 
tinted  carmine;  Blanche  Ferry,  extra, 
white  and  pink;  Blanche  Burpee,  best 
v/hite;  Catherine  Tracy,  daybreak 


strings  are  run  up  by  the  side  of  the 
post  for  the  peas  to  climb  on,  and  an 
occasional  tie  is  needed  to  keep  them 
within  bounds.  Two  strong  plants  are 
plenty  at  each  post,  but  sow  enough 
seed  so  that  you  can  thin  out.  If  not 
convenient  to  sow  the  seed  on  the  bed 
then  sow  in  3-inch  pots  and  later  trans- 
plant. They  do  not  make  much  growth 
in  the  dark  days  of  winter,  and  50  de- 
grees is  about  as  high  as  they  should 
be  kept  in  winter. 

For  outside  they  should  be  the  very 
first  thing  sown  in  the  spring,  the  mo- 
ment the  ground  is  dry  enough  to  plow 
or  spade,  or  better  still,  it  can  be  dug 
up  rough  in  the  fall,  and  will  need  no 
digging  in  the  spring.  Draw  trenches 
three  or  four  inches  broad  and  the 
same  in  depth,  three  feet  apart,  sow 
thinly  and  cover  with  an  inch  of  soil. 
If  you  think  it's  going  to  be1  dry  pour 
some  water  on  top  of  the  seed  before 
you  cover  in  with  earth;  it  will  hasten 
the  growth.  At  the  first  hoeing  you 
can  let  the  earth  be  drawn  in  a  little 
higher  around  the  stems,  but  if  the 
trench  is  somewhat  below  the  level  all 
the  better  for  future  waterings. 

The  soil  for  peas  out  of  doors  should 
be  deep  and  rich.  There  is  nothing 
equal  to  brush  to  support  them,  which 
should  always  be  placed  with  a  line  of 
it  on  each  side,  when  the  growth  is 
only  two  or  three  inches  high,  not 
waiting  till  the  peas  are  up  a  foot  and 
have  fallen  over  to  one  side.  We 
don't  suffer  with  drought  usually  up 
to  flowering  time,  but  a  short  while  be- 
fore you  begin  to  pick  you  should 
spread  2  or  3  inches  of  stable  litter  en- 
tirely over  the  ground  between  the 


Some  New  York  Stores  at  Christinas. 


pick  all  the  flowers.  If  they  escape 
you  they  will  quickly  go  to  seed  and 
then  your  plant  gets  exhausted. 

Some  growers  sow  in  October  and  by 
this  means  I  have  seen  flowers  picked 
ten  days  earlier  than  those  sown  on 
the  same  ground  in  April.  You  must 
judge  for  yourself  the  best  week  to 
sow,  according  to  the  weather.  You 
don't  want  them  to  make  any  growth 
above  the  ground,  just  sprouting  n«ar 
the  surface  is  enough,  but  sow  four 
inches  deep.  For  this  purpose  choose 
a  rather  high  part  of  your  ground 
where  surface  water  will  not  lie.  Ten 


pink;  Little  Dorrit,  fine  pink;  Aurora, 
striped  orange  and  white;  Her  Majes- 
ty, rose  and  carmine;  Gray  Friar,  white 
clouded  with  lilac;  Emily  Henderson, 
a  standard  white;  King  of  the  Blues,  a 
handsome  purplish  blue. 

Perhaps  many  of  these  fine  varieties 
will  soon  be  superseded.  It  would  be 
inadvisable  to  grow  too  many  kinds 
under  glass,  and  less  will  do.  If  limited 
to  five  kinds  I  would  say  the  best  for 
forcing  are:  Emily  Henderson,  white; 
Blanche  Ferry,  pink  and  white;  Count- 
ess of  Radnor,  lavender;  Golden  Gleam, 
yellow;  Catherine  Tracy,  light  pink. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Some  New  York  Stores  at  Christinas. 


SYSTEM. 

This  is  a  plant  that  wants  cultivat- 
ing in  a  good  many  smaller  establish- 
ments, and  its  introduction  into  some 
large  ones  would  not  be  amiss. 

I  think  it  is  a  great  advantage  to 
a  gardener  when  he  has  been  educated 
where  neatness  and  cleanliness  were 
strictly  enforced,  even  if  it  were  a  pri- 
vate garden.  The  worst  cases  of  disor- 
der we  see  are  where  a  man  has  left 
the  shoemaker's  bench  or  the  machine 
shop  or  the  office,  and  we  have  even 
known  where  they  have  left  the  pulpit 
for  the  pulpit's  good  and  mnde  horri- 
bly bad  florists.  When  a  young  man  is 
wavering  between  the  church  and  the 
greenhouse  always  take  to  the  church. 


There  is  less  dirt  and  more  spirtuality 
about  the  church,  and  you  would  not 
be  always  thinking  about  what  you 
might  have  been  if  you  became  a  flor- 
ist. While  looking  for  your  salary  in 
the  church  will  always  prevent  your 
pining  afteFthe  greenhouse. 

I  must  admit  though  that  there  are 
instances  in  this  country  of  young  men 
total  strangers  to  the  business  who 
have  entered  it  and  made  a  marked 
success  of  it,  setting  us  all  a  bright  ex- 
ample by  their  systematic  manage- 
ment and  orderly  and  business-like 
methods.  Their  places  are  models  of 
neatness.  But  they  are  the  great  ex- 
ception and  those  I  refer  to  are  bright, 
intelligent  men  whom  nature  blessed 


with  brains,  and  they  would  shine  in 
any  business. 

If  order  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  it 
ought  most  assuredly  to  be  carried 
into  the  greenhouse,  for  ours  are  most 
perishable  goods  and  disorder  is  not 
only  unsightly  but  a  great  pecuniary 
loss.  These  remarks  are  not  intended 
for  the  bright,  well  trained  greenhouse 
man,  for  he  knows  the  value  of  order 
and  system,  but  there  are  hundreds 
who  keep  their  places  in  a  dirty  mud- 
dle from  one  year's  end  to  the  other. 
I  have  no  patience  with  the  man  who 
lets  his  place  get  fearfully  untidy  and 
dirty  and  then  has  a  grand  clean  up. 
People  will  form  an  impression  of 
your  place  as  they  usually  see  it  and 
perhaps  won't  see  it  just  after  you  have 
had  the  great  house  cleaning. 

Untidiness  is  not  accident  or  press 
of  business,  it  is  pure  carelessness. 
Fifty  dead  or  cut  down  plants  standing 
on  the  edge  of  the  path  is  too  much 
for  you  to  carry  back  to  the  shed  at 
one  time,  but  if  the  workman  who  put 
the  first  one  or  half  dozen  there  had 
carried  them  back  and  dumped  them 
and  put  the  pots  away  there  would 
have  been  none  there.  Untidiness  does 
not  arise  from  want  of  time,  not  in  the 
least;  it  is  solely  the  habit  of  not  put- 
ting things  in  their  right  places  at  the 
right  time.  Some  men  don't  know  the 
difference  between  a  heap  of  old  soil 
that  is  sure  to  come  in  handy  for  some 
purpose  and  a  heap  composed  of  bro- 
ken glass,  wood,  old  plants  and  dead 
cats.  It's  all  alike  to  them,  and  is 
thrown  out  with  the  indifference  that 
you  see  the  refuse  of  the  tenement 
house  go  out  of  the  back  window. 

How  much  time  is  lost  in  the  mislay- 
ing of  tools,  or  worse  still,  loaning 
them.  Neither  borrow  nor  loan  tools 
unless  it  be  something  like  a  steam 
roller  that  you  are  not  warranted  in 
buying.  Borrow  nor  loan  no  tools. 
They  are  far  worse  in  the  country  at 
borrowing  than  in  the  cities;  and  they 
don't  say,  "Could  I  have  the  loan  of 
your  post  auger?"  but  "I  come  up  for 
that  post  auger  I  saw  you  use  t'other 
day."  Another  sample  of  waste  of ' 
time  is  when  Jack  says,  "Where's  the 
monkey  wrench,  Bill?"  Bill  says,  "I 
guess  you'll  find  it  in  the  stoke  hole. 
Bob  was  fixin'  the  boiler  yesterday." 
And  so  it  goes. 

Keep  your  tools  where  they  belong. 
Keep  your  flats  piled  up  neatly.  Let 
your  sash  be  in  use  or  properly  stood 
up  against  a  wall  or  fence.  Let  your 
compost  piles  be  neat  and  in  order. 
Have  a  proper  place  for  your  watering 
cans.  And  above  all  have  your  pots  al- 
ways in  their  sizes  in  neat  rows,  not 
under  a  bench  in  many  different  sizes 
all  mixed  up.  Some  men  like  to  buy 
pots  before  they  have  half  used  up 
what  they  already  have. 

Here  is  a  sample  where  disorder 
comes  in.  The  driver  from  a  store  or 
the  delivery  man  brings  home  an  aza- 
lea out  of  bloom  and  two  or  three 
other  flowering  plants  that  are  past, 
or  perhaps  a  flat  half  full  of  gera- 
niums that  were  not  used  at  the  flower 
gardening  job.  He  jumps  off  the  wag- 
on, slings  the  flat  and  its  contents  on 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


the  ground  by  the  shed  wall,  and  then 
asks  for  another  job.  The  next  man 
that  wants  a  flat  in  a  hurry  throws  out 
the  plants  and  runs  off  on  his  errand. 
A  pot  or  two  is  broken,  or  the  plants 
are  run  over,  all  because  the  driver  did 
not  take  a  minute's  time  to  dump  the 
useless  plant  and  put  the  others  in  the 
shed  where  they  would  be  attended  to. 


are  not  quite  good  enough  or  not  in 
flower  don't  leave  them  standing  out 
alone  to  dry  out;  bunch  them  up  with 
the  lot.  Your  precious  time  will  not 
be  missed,  for  it  will  only  take  a  sec- 
ond and  will  be  better  for  the  plants, 
better  in  appearance,  and  much  better 
for  the  man  who  waters.  And  so  with 
all  your  plants. 


running  a  greenhouse,  but  do  let  it  be 
clean,  neat  and  orderly,  and  it  will 
cover  many  other  deficiencies.  Never 
scruple  or  sigh  at  having  to  throw 
away  any  plants  that  you  see  there  is 
no  sale  for.  If  you  made  a  mistake 
the  quickest  way  to  recover  is  to  out 
with  them.  The  ability  to  discard  use- 
less stock  is  only  second  to  the  abil- 
ity to  grow  good  plants. 

Having  everything  in  at  the  right 
time  it  is  wanted  is  one  of  the  great- 
est accomplishments  of  a  good  florist, 
and  next  is  having  your  stock  well 
balanced,  not  propagating  or  growing 
twice  as  much  as  you  can  dispose  of 
of  any  article.  You  have  your  past 
experience  to  guide  you  and  should 
know  the  probable  demand  for  the 
next.  You  can't  grow  everything  and 
what  you  don't  succeed  with,  buy  if 
you  must  have  it.  The  man  who  tries 
to  grow  everything  he  is  asked  for 
will  never  succeed. 

You  must  never  be  bothered  with  the 
best  of  meaning  people  who'  bring  you 
seeds  or  plants  for  you  to  grow  be- 
cause they  are  curiosities,  and  Gen. 
Candbeef  sent  the  seeds  to  her  from 
Cuba,  or  Lieut.  Floater  brought  them 
from  Manila.  The  plants  of  the  whole 
world  are  pretty  well  known  now  and 
they  will  be  nothing  desirable  for  you. 
Tell  the  kind  person  that  you  are 
afraid  they  would  not  get  attention 
among  your  men,  who  only  have  a 
knowledge  of  common  commercial 
plants,  but  you  are  sure  Mr.  Private 
Gardener,  your  neighbor,  or  the  Bot- 


All  that  may  be  a  trifle,  but  a  lot  of 
such  performances  creates  great  con- 
fusion. You  can  do  your  work  quick- 
er, better,  and  feel  more  comfortable 
and  happy  all  around  when  things  are 
in  order.  And  depend  upon  it  orderly 
places  are  the  prosperous  ones. 

In  the  greenhouse  among  the  plants 
is  still  more  need  of  system  and  order. 
The  old-fashioned  way  of  years  ago  of 
having  a  bench  all  mixed  up  with  fifty 
species  of  plants  like  a  fourth  class 
botanic  garden  is  played  out.  We 
knew  greenhouses,  some  not  so  long 
ago,  that  always  looked  alike  tha  year 
round.  A  cactus  and  sanchezia  and  Be- 
gonia Rex  and  Hoya  carnosa  beautiful- 
ly (?)  arranged.  A  show  house  is  all 
right,  where  a  few  of  the  brightest 
and  best  of  all  you  have  should  be 
shown  off,  and  that  should  be  changed 
as  often  as  possible.  Let  your  show 
house  undergo  a  transformation  scene 
very  frequently,  as  your  store  window 
does  daily. 

In  other  houses  everything  should  be 
in  blocks.  They  are  better  cared  for 
in  every  way  and  look  better;  it  is  the 
only  way.  Stand  over  your  plants  fre- 
quently, small,  fast  growing  plants  es- 
pecially, and  it  is  much  easier  to  throw 
your  leaves  and  rubbish  into  a  bushel 
basket  than  it  is  to  throw  them  on 
the  path  and  then  have  to  sweep  them 
up. 

We  frequently  have  hot  words  in  the 
spring  with  the  men  when  picking  out 
plants  or  filling  orders.  If  a  hundred 
geraniums  are  wanted  of  one  kind  take 
them  as  they  come.  If  two  or  three 


Views  in  Two  Stores. 


Stand  all  rows  of  plants  straight 
across  the  bench,  and  never  crowd  for 
want  of  room,  nor  spread  them  out  for 
appearance  sake.  There  is  a  right  dis- 
tance for  the  plants  and  they  should 
have  it,  neither  more  nor  less. 


anic  Gardens  would  be  delighted  with 
them. 

Division  of  labor  is  a  great  thing. 
The  operations  in  a  greenhouse  are 
very  diverse.  Put  men  at  what  they 
can  do  well  and  quickly.  And  there  is 


I  cannot  mention  all  the  details  of      no  labor,  either  in  potting,  watering, 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL 


Window  Display  Symbolizing  the  Pan-American  Exposition. 


tying  or  setting  over  plants,  but  what 
should  be  done  quickly  and  with  a 
rush.  When  men  get  accustomed  to 
work  quickly  at  these  light  jobs  it  is 
no  effort  to  keep  it  up  and  it  must  be 
done  quickly  or  it  won't  pay.  When 
you  set  a  man  to  turn  over  fifty  loads 
of  earth  don't  expect  big  shovels  and 
quick  work  all  the  time.  Have  mercy; 
you  shoveled  once  yourself  and  may 
again. 

THUNBERGIA  ALATA. 

There  are  few  prettier  basket  plants 
than  the  above,  and  its  variety  T. 
aurantiaca.  Their  flower  resembles  a 
miniature  convolvulus.  They  are  an- 
nuals and  easily  raised  from  seed  sown 
in  March.  Being  true  climbers  they 
are  most  suitable  for  our  hanging 
baskets. 

Sow  the  seed,  which  is  quite  large,  in 
light  soil  and  keep  in  good  heat.  When 
well  up  pot  into  2^-inch  pots;  why  I 
say  2%-inch  is  to  give  them  room  to 
grow,  for  if  stunted  early  they  soon 
get  infested  with  red  spider,  in  fact 
they  are  very  badly  addicted  to  it,  and 
that  is  their  chief  defect. 


When  put  into  a  basket  they  grow 
quickly  and  soon  wind  up  the  wires  or 
hang  over  the  sides.  They  should  not 
be  at  a  lower  temperature  than  60  de- 
grees at  any  time,  and  are  not  suited 
for  a  basket  in  a  windy  situation. 

TORENIA. 

These  pretty  plants  are  grown  for 
conservatory  decoration,  T.  Fournierii 
being  one  of  the  prettiest  species,  but 
would  not  be  a  florist's  flower.  T.  asi- 
atica  is  often  used  with  us  as  a  bed- 
ding plant,  being  a  fine  plant  for  an 
edging.  Its  blue  and  violet  flowers  are 
very  pretty  and  a  change  from  the 
prevalent  reds  of  our  flower  gardens. 

It  can  be  raised  from  seed  sown,  in 
February  and  afterwards  grown  on  in 
flats  or  put  into  small  pots  and  plant- 
ed out  when  settled  warm  weather  ar- 
rives. 

It  can  also  be  carried  over  winter  by 
putting  in  cuttings  in  August  and  fur- 
ther propagated  during  winter  and 
spring.  Any  good  ordinary  soil  will 
grow  it.  Fumigate,  for  it  is  troubled 
with  greenfly  and  it  requires  a  high 
temperature  at  all  times.  In  the 


flower  garden  it  should  have  a  rich 
soil,  and  it  thrives  well  in  partial 
shade. 

TROPAEOLUM  (NASTURTIUM). 

This  useful  genus  is  very  familiar 
to  all.  The  tall  nasturtium  is  one  of 
the  best  plants  for  covering  fences  or 
walls  when  given  some  strings  or 
brush  to  climb  on.  The  dwarf  nastur- 
tium is  used  as  a  bedding  plant  and  in 
mixed  borders  its  round,  compact 
clumps  have  a  fine  appearance.  They 
are  always  treated  as  annuals  and  al- 
though growing  most  freely  in  our 
summers  they  will  not  endure  the 
slightest  frost. 

The  dwarf  varieties  of  the  nastur- 
tium are  not  always  a  success  as  a 
bedding  plant  because  they  are  planted 
in  too  rich  a  soil  and  the  leaves  hide 
the  flowers.  Plant  in  rather  poor  soil 
in  the  full  sun,  and  you  will  have  bet- 
ter results.  The  double  forms  of  the 
nasturtium  were  formerly  used  as  a 
bedding  plant,  but  we  have  many  bet- 
ter plants  for  the  purpose.  A  dark  scar- 
let variety  of  the  tall  form  is  often 
grown  in  an  8  or  10-inch  pot  and 


trained  up  a  rafter  where  it  will  give 
many  flowers  in  any  greenhouse  where 
the  temperature  is  not  under  50  de- 
grees. 

Both  the  tall  and  dwarf  forms  are  too 
easily  raised  from  seed  for  us  to  think 
of  them  as  bedding  plants,  but  as  a 
plant  for  oar  veranda  boxes  they  are 
of  consequence,  their  fine,  bright  green 
leaves  and  showy  flowers  being  always 
liked  by  our  patrons  and  soon  filling 
up  and  making  a  fine  show.  We  never 
remember  having  any  left  when  trade 
was  over  by  middle  of  June. 

Obtain   the  best  strain   you   can   of 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 

strain  for  bedding  you  can  buy  any 
variety  true  to  color  and  some  of  the 
foliage  of  these  is  very  distinct. 

Varieties  of  T.  Lobbianum  grow  as 
finely  as  the  common  nasturtium.  The 
foliage  is  somewhat  smaller,  but  they 
flower  in  great  profusion. 

TUBEROSE  (POLIANTHES  TUBE- 
ROSA). 

We  can  remember  in  another  coun- 
try when,  if  asked  to  deliver  a  dozen 
tuberose  bulbs  to  a  customer,  they 
were  as  much  trouble  to  procure  as  it 


A  Florist's  Uniformed  Driver  and  Messengers. 


the  tall  growing  kinds,  and  sow  middle 
of  March.  As  soon  as  they  have  formed 
their  seed  leaves  pot  into  21/£-inch  and 
keep  them  in  a  temperature  of  50  da- 
grees.  They  will  grow  very  fast  and  in 
any  soil.  If  grown  on  the  bench  they 
will  quickly  become  unmanageable,  30 
we  put  them  on  a  hanging  shelf  where 
they  will  get  air  and  light  and  occa- 
sionally short  of  water,  which  does  not 
hurt  them  at  all,  but  induces  them  to 
flower.  Their  roots  when  put  into  the 
basket  or  vase  have  not  much  room  to 
spread  and  they  flower  freely. 

There  are  many  named  varieties  of 
the  tall  growing  nasturtiums,  but  we 
find  a  good  mixture  answers  every 
purpose.  In  the  dwarf  or  Tom  Thumb 


would  be  now  to  get  a  young  kangaroo 
from  Tasmania.  And  we  can  also  ra- 
member  when  they  were  used  here 
with  us  to  such  an  extent  that  the  peo- 
ple utterly  tired  of  them,  or  fashion 
said  so.  Twenty-five  years  ago  they 
were  a  flower  of  the  first  importance. 
But  how  have  the  mighty  fallen!  To 
put  in  cheap  cut  flowers  is  about  all 
you  can  do  with  them.  Nevertheless 
it  is  a  beautiful  sweet  flower. 

The  bulbs  are  now  offered  so  cheap- 
ly that  the  cost  is  of  no  consideration 
if  you  have  the  room  to  grow  them. 
The  raising  of  bulbs  is  done  by  plant- 
ing the  young  offshoots  in  the  spring 
in  good,  rich  land  and  in  favorable 
seasons  they  will  make  a  flowering 
bulb  by  the  following  fall.  But  that 


better  be  left  to  those  who  have  a  suit- 
able soil,  a  genial  climate  and  cheap 
help,  although  as  far  north  as  Ohio 
good  bulbs  are  raised. 

Tuberose  bulbs  should  never  be  sent 
by  rail  during  a  cold  spell.  A  slight 
frost  will  destroy  them  and  a  low  tem- 
perature for  a  few  days  will  much  in- 
jure them.  When  unpacked  keep  them 
in  flats  in  a  shed  which  is  never  below 
50  degress.  We  pull  off  all  offshoot,-; 
and  scrape  off  all  signs  of  any  side 
growth  and  cut  square  off  the  hard  root 
growth  below  the  bulb.  Fill  some 
flats,  such  flats  as  we  use  for  tulips, 
with  a  mixture  of  sand  and  loam,  about 
half  and  half,  and  plant  the  bulbs  about 
two  inches  apart,  putting  bottom  of 
bulb  an  inch  into  the  soil.  If  kept 
moist  with  the  flats  placed  on  or  just 
over  some  hot  water  pipes  growth  will 
soon  begin  and  in  two  or  three  weeks 
we  pot  them  into  4-inch  and  place  them 
in  a  mild  hot-bed.  This  gives  us  good, 
strong  plants  by  starting  them  in 
March  to  sell  at  bedding  time. 

For  your  own  use  you  can  start  them 
still  later  in  the  same  way.  Where  you 
have  good  light,  warm  soil  you  can 
plant  them  out,  but  they  come  cleaner 
and  finer  when  grown  in  pots  under 
glass,  and  you  have  usually  plenty  of 
bench  room  in  the  summer  months. 
They  make  many  roots  and  when 
growing  want  lots  of  water. 

The  spikes  are  now  sold  very  cheap- 
ly, but  you  should  always  raise  a  thou- 
sand or  more,  for  you  can  raise  them 
very  cheaply  and  although  there  is  or 
was  a  foolish  prejudice  against  them 
they  are  a  sweet  and  most  beautiful 
flower  and  will  come  very  useful  on 
many  occasions. 

VALLOTA  PURPUREA. 

This  is  generally  called  amaryllis. 
but  is  botanically  a  genus  of  its  own, 
and  one  of  the  most  beatuiful  of  its 
class.  Having  seen  some  plants  of 
these  very  recently  grown  in  8-in.  pots 
with  nine  to  twelve  spikes  and  thirty 
flowers,  under  the  care  of  a  matron 
who  had  nothing  but  a  cottage  win- 
dow, it  seems  worthy  of  some  notice. 
It  flowers  during  summer. 

Three  bulbs  in  an  8-inch  pot  will 
make  a  fine  display  when  they  are  well 
established.  Dry  bulbs  can  be  bought 
in  the  spring,  but  it  should  be  treated 
as  an  evergreen  bulb,  and  during  win- 
ter they  should  be  kept  cool  with  less 
water,  but  not  dust  dry  or  be  disturbed. 
Plant  the  bulbs  four  inches  below  the 
surface.  They  may  not  flower  the  first 
year,  but  will  in  a  year  or  two  get  well 
established,  and  in  June  or  July  send 
up  a  number  of  spikes  with  their 
handsome  red  and  pink  flowers. 

V.  purpurea  is  the  species,  and  V.  p. 
fiximia  is  a  grand  variety.  To  grow 
them  well  they  should  be  given  a  cool 
but  light  bench  in  winter  and  be  kept 
moderately  dry.  In  May  when  they 
begin  to  grow  give  them  plenty  of 
water.  Drain  the  pot  when  starting 
new  bulbs,  and  use  good  fibrous  loam 
with  a  fourth  of  decayed  manure, 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL, 


2J7 


A  Corner  in  a  Florist's  Store. 


VASES. 


The  florist  adjacent  to  or  in  a  town 
or  city  and  who  does  a  general  retail 
business  will  have  many  vases  to  fill, 
and  if  his  establishment  is  near  a  lead- 
ing cemetery  it  will  be  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal features  of  his  trade.  I  know 
several  who  consider  it  their  most  im- 
portant business. 

Filling  vases  for  cemeteries  in  some 
cities  is  at  a  price  very  close  to,  any 
profitable  margin,  and  if  one  or  two 
set  the  price  low  the  rest  have  to  fol- 
low, for  few  people  will  pay  more  than 
their  neighbor  does.  In  some  cemeter- 
ies the  florist  agrees  to  fill  and  water 
the  vase  for  the  season,  and  although 
the  price  charged  for  the  watering, 
$2.00  to  $2.50,  for  watering  a  vase  from 
June  1st  to  the  time  frost  kills  the 
plants,  does  not  seem  much  to  charge 
it  is  by  far  the  most  profitable  part  of 
the  business  if  you  have  two  or  three 
hundred  of  them. 

I  know  some  florists  who  have  al- 
most a  "corner"  on  certain  cemeteries, 
and  there  they  charge  a  good  price  for 
filling,  including  a  coat  of  paint.  We 
are  so  situated  we  cannot  do  that.  We 
charge  50  cents  for  one  coat  of  paint 
and  75  cents  for  two  coats. 

Our  best  cemeteries  are  now  kept  in 
the  most  perfect  shape,  walks,  drives 
and  grass  kept  as  trim  as  in  the  private 
grounds  of  the  wealthy,  and  with  shade 
trees  scattered  here  and  there  in  judi- 
cious groupings,  the  pleasant  surround- 
ings marred  only  by  the  over-use  of 
monuments  and  statuary  which  in  their 


glaring  whiteness  dispel  at  once  any 
comfortable  or  cheerful  feeling  that 
might  otherwise  be  associated  with  a 
cemetery.  And  the  innumerable  white 
iron  vases  only  still  further  add  to  the 
cold  dismalness  of  the  scene.  Why 
should  it  be  so? 

Some  day  a  better  and  more  ad- 
vanced idea  of  our  final  resting  place 
will  be  shown  by  subduing  the  osten- 
tatious display  of  wealth  and  marble. 
Graves  will  be  leveled  and  a  small 
marker  will  denote  the  spot  where  the 
departed  lies,  and  the  whole  cemetery 
will  be  a  beautiful  garden  with  its 
necessary  features  reduced  to  incon- 
spicuousness.  Monuments  are  not  by 
their  size  and  cost  the  slightest  indi- 
cation of  the  worth  or  genius  of  the 
person  gone  before.  The  most  common- 
place man  lies  at  the  foot  of  an  impos- 
ing column,  while  the  remains  of  a 
President  of  the  United  States  rests 
near  a  humble  stone.  But  this  lavish 
display  is  good  in  one  way,  it  distrib- 
utes wealth  and  the  greatest  good  a 
wealthy  man  can  do  with  his  money 
is  to  spend  it.  Work  is  the  best  of  all 
charities.  We  can  help  some  by  telling 
our  customers  to  have  their  iron  vases 
painted  dark  green  or  drab;  a  few  are, 
but  not  enough. 

Most  of  our  vases,  whether  for  the 
grounds  or  cemeteries,  are  iron,  stone, 
or  rustic  wood  work.  The  stone  vases 
are  usually  large,  are  costly  but  much 
superior  to  any  in  appearance.  I  have 
never  noticed  any  difference  in  the 
health  of  the  plants  in  either  of  these 


styles.  Sometimes  the  handsome, 
massive  stone  vases  are  left  without 
any  outlet  for  the  water  to  escape;  al- 
ways see  to  that  if  you  are  consulted. 
If  a  long  dry  spell  occurs  they  do  very 
well,  but  if  we  get  a  week's  rain  in 
July  the  consequence  is  disastrous. 

The  wooden  vases,  or  baskets  as  they 
should  be  called,  are  lined  with  green 
moss,  before  the  soil  is  filled  in.  Plants 
always  do  well  in  them  but  as  the 
drainage  is  most  perfect  they  take  an 
awful  lot  of  water  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember to  keep  them  green. 

Plants  do  excellently  in  iron  vases. 
The  great  majority  of  the  iron  vases 
are  now  what  is  called  of  the  reservoir 
pattern.  There  is  an  iron  basin  which 
holds  three  inches  of  water  immediate- 
ly below  the  roots  separated  from  the 
earth  by  the  casting  but  connected  with 
the  water  in  the  center  by  a  funnel  of 
two  inches  in  diameter  which  dips  into 
the  water  and  which  we  fill  with  sphag- 
num. The  inventor  meant  it  to  be 
filled  with  a  sponge  so  that  the  soil 
would  be  always  soaking  up  the  water 
by  capillary  attraction.  This  also 
works  well  in  dry  seasons  but  in  wet 
times  when  the  reservoir  is  always 
full  the  soil  gets  saturated  and  the 
plants  die,  and  we  frequently  have  to 
lift  off  the  top  of  the  vase  and  empty 
out  the  reservoir.  This  is  a  case  of 
sub-watering  to  excess.  I  prefer  the 
vases  without  reservoir.  They  look  all 
right  on  theory  but  in  practice  are 
often  more  harm  than  good. 

When  the  frosts  have  killed  the 
plants  in  the  vases  we  empty  them. 
The  wooden  baskets  are  stored  in  our 
sheds.  The  tops  of  the  iron  vases  are 
turned  upside  down  and  the  soil  taken 
out  of  the  stone  vases,  or  as  is  often 
done  with  the  large  vases  we  fill  them 
with  some  neat  evergreens  for  the 
winter;  the  Chinese  arbor  vitae  and 
retinospora  are  good  for  the  purpose. 
We  make  no  charge  for  emptying  the 
vases.  They  are  mostly  steady  custom- 
ers and  if  they  are  not  we  do  it  for 
our  satisfaction,  for  what  would  look 
worse  than  withered  plants  where  all 
else  was  neat  and  trim.  It  is  no  longer 
as  it  was  when  Gray  wrote: 

Perhaps  in  this  neglected  spot  is  laid 
Some  heart  once  pregnant  with   celes- 
tial fire; 
Hands    that    the    rod    of    empire    might 

have  swayed, 
Or  waked  to  ecstasy  the  living  lyre. 

All  now  is  neat  and  cared  for.  Even 
rural  cemeteries  are  now  well  kept. 
Before  I  leave  the  precincts  of  what 
should  be  a  most  pleasant  and!  beauti- 
ful spot,  and  as  far  as  care  goes  is, 
I  must  say  that  the  abolishing  of 
fences  and  the  care  and  control  of  the 
whole  grounds  by  the  cemetery  authori- 
ties, who  treat  all  alike  and  study  gen- 
eral appearance  and  not  individual,  is 
a  vast  improvement  over  those  ceme- 
teries where  the  lot  owners  pay  some 
outside  party  for  its  care.  It  is  the 
whole  locality  or  section  that  should 
be  pleasing  and  beautiful,  not  one  lot 
scrupulously  cared  for  and  the  next 
one  neglected.  The  man  or  woman 
who  would  delight  in  their  lot  being 
mowed  and  clipped  and  decorated  and 


14 


2J8 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


contented   to   see   their  neighbor's   in 
weeds  would  be  narrow  minded  indeed. 

There  are  various  ways  of  filling 
vases,  but  where  there  are  thousands 
in  one  cemetery  and  perhaps  two  or 
three  hundred  on  one  "section"  alone, 
there  must  be  a  good  deal  of  sameness. 
Some  few  have  one  palm  alone.  Many 
are  filled  with  one  color  of  geraniums 
with  or  without  any  drooping  plant  for 
an  edge.  A  few  are  filled  with  cannas 
or  caladiums.  Some  contain  a  mass  of 
one  variety  of  coleus  with  a  distinct 
edge,  but  more  than  half  of  the  whole 
are  filled  with  a  variety  of  plants  with 
some  drooping  plants  to  hang  over  the 
edge.  If  in  a  windy  place  the  so-called 
"vines"  or  droopers  have  a  hard  time 
of  it,  and  are  little  ornament. 

Nearly  everyone  wants  his  or  her 
vase  to  look  just  perfection  the  day  it 
is  put  out  and  expect  it  to  continue  to 
keep  looking  so  till  October,  the  unrea- 
sonableness of  which  we  have  to  strive 
with  and  do  our  best  to  please.  Water- 
ing is  not  the  only  thing  a  vase  wants 
in  summer.  Much  can  be  done  and 
must  be  done  by  keeping  off  withered 
flowers,  yellow  leaves  and  pinching 
out  the  stronger  growing  plants,  of 
which  the  coleus  is  the  worst  to  crowd 
out  the  rest.  Cleaning  the  vases,  as 
we  call  it,  should  be  attended  to  at 
least  once  a  week. 

In  palms  or  that  style  of  plant,  a 
Chamaerops  humilis,  any  of  the  phoe- 
nix or  Dracaena  indivisa  can  be  used 
in  the  broad  sun.  It  is  impossible  to 
give  water  enough  to  keep  the  lata- 
nias  or  kentias  from  burning,  but  if 
in  the  shade  of  trees  then  any  of  the 
handsome  palms  can  be  used.  Any  of 
the  foliage  plants  such  as  coleus, 
achyranthes  or  acalypha  have  a  good 
appearance  if  nicely  pinched  and  in 
order. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  geranium  is 
unequaled  as  a  vase  plant  if  flower 
and  color  is  wanted,  but  they  should 
be  in  the  full  sun.  The  varieties 
should  be  not  only  good  bloomers  but 
strong,  vigorous  kinds  that  will  keep 
their  foliage  as  well  as  flower.  The 
single,  for  this  purpose,  are  of  little 
use.  Of  those  we  have  tried  for  the 
purpose  the  best  are  Prokop  Daubeck, 
a  very  robust,  large,  double  red;  there 
is  hardly  a  variety  as  good;  Ernest 
Lauth,  fine  for  the  purpose;  Alphonse 
Ricard,  orange  scarlet;  S.  A.  Nutt, 
crimson;  Tower  Eiffel,  bright  scarlet; 
Emile  de  Gerardin,  pink,  but  now  su- 
perseded by  F.  Perkins,  a  pink  un- 
equaled; Beaute  Poitevine,  salmon; 
La  Favorite,  double  white.  The  silver 
leaved  Mountain  of  Snow  is  most  use- 
ful as  an  edge,  and  so  is  the  compact 
Mme.  Salleroi.  Sometimes  the  gera- 
nium vases  have  only  one  of  the  varie- 
gated geraniums  for  an  edging,  and 
sometimes  some  drooper,  but  when  the 
latter  only  one  kind  should  be  used. 
Vinca,  glechoma  or  the  ivy  geranium 
are  very  suitable.  A  favorite  vase 
with  hundreds  is  pink  geraniums  with 
the  pink  ivy  leaf  for  an  edging. 

The  mixed  vases  are  in  the  majority 
and  are  the  least  profitable  to  the  flor- 
ist and  the  least  satisfactory.  In  the 


center  we  use  a  small  phoenix  or  a 
dwarf  canna,  but  nearly  all  ask  and 
expect  us  to  use  a  Dracaena  indivisa. 
This  wonderfully  useful  plant  not  only 
thrives  under  the  worst  kind  of  treat- 
ment but  actually  improves  every  day 
till  fall,  and  near  the  end  of  summer 
is  the  redeeming  feature  of  many  a 
vase.  When  using  mixed  plants  there 
is  quite  a  variety.  Dwarf  flowering 
cannas;  Grevillea  robusta,  which  gives 
a  light,  feathery  effect;  all  the  gera- 
niums mentioned;  coleus,  in  great  va- 
riety; three  kinds  of  achyranthes,  Be- 
gonia Vernon,  and  some  other  flower- 
ing kinds;  Abutilon  Souv.  de  Bonn 
(and  we  think  Savitzii  will  be  a  great 
addition  to  our  vase  plants),  antheri- 
cum,  Centaurea  gymnocarpa,  aspidis- 
tra; fuchsias,  but  these  should  only  be 
used  in  partial  shade,  and  Black 
Prince  and  old  speciosa  are  the  two 
best  for  the  purpose;  variegated 
euonymus;  and  perhaps  a  few  more 
can  be  added  to  the  list.  The  coarse 
monster  Caladium  esculentum  should 
not  be  used  with  other  plants,  for  it 
entirely  exhausts  the  soil. 

For  droopers  we  have  a  variety  to 
choosei  from.  The  weaker  kinds  get 
crushed  out,  but  look  pretty  for  the 
first  month.  We  use  first  the  varie- 
gated and  green  trailing  vincas.  We 
consider  this  the  most  important  of 
all  our  vase  droopers.  Several  varie- 
ties of  the  ivy  geranium,  English  ivy, 
gramanthea  (a  small  creeping  succu- 
lent), glechoma  (variegated),  the  so- 
called  German  ivy  (senecio),  lysi- 
machia,  double  sweet  alyssum,  lobelia, 
nasturtium,  Abutilon  vexillarium, 
lopospermum,  Solanum  jasminioides, 
Pilogyne  suavis,  nierembergia,  petu- 
nias, Kenilworth  ivy,  etc. 

The  prettiest  vase  in  our  cemetery 
this  entire  summer  is  a  vase  of  tuber- 
ous-rooted begonias.  It  is  grand,  but 
it  is  in  the  shade  of  trees.  Where  this 
is  the  case  it  makes  a  splendid  plant. 
Asparagus  Sprengeri  seed  is  yet  a  lit- 
tle expensive;  when  as  cheap  as  smilax 
seed  we  believe  this  asparagus  will  be 
one  of  our  finest  drooping  vase  plants, 
and  particularly  for  our  veranda  boxes. 
In  a  warmer  section  of  the  country  the 
crotons  make  splendid  vase  plants.  Do 
not  put  in  plants  that  are  showy,  but 
that  you  know  will  quickly  go  out  of 
flower  and  flower  no  more  that  season; 
such  plants  as  our  Show  pelargoniums 
and  pyrethrums. 

As  the  soil  you  use  is  to  support  as 
many  plants  in  a  2-foot  vase  as  would 
properly  fill  a  6-foot  flower  bed,  you 
must  use  the  richest  soil.  In  addition 
to  one-third  of  rotten  manure  added 
to  your  loam,  add  a  6-inch  pot  of  bone 
flour  to-  every  barrow-load.  Keep  the 
plants  pretty  well  up  on  the  surface, 
but  see  that  the  soil  is  firmly  packed 
around  every  plant.  We  find  work- 
men very  guilty  of  neglecting  that 
part  of  it,  and  we  find  when  three  or 
four  hundred  vases  have  to  be  filled  in 
a  week  that  there  has  to  be  some  sys- 
tem about  it. 

First  a  list  is  given  the  boss  of  the 
gang,  of  the  names  of  the  owners  which 
reads  like  this:  "Mrs.  Particular,  one 


iron  vase.  Fill  good  mixed,  only  light 
colored  geraniums."  Or  "Mrs.  Usual, 
cne  iron  vase.  All  pink  geraniums  and 
pink  ivy  leaf."  And  every  vase  has 
the  name  of  owner  attached.  With  a 
man  to  place  the  plants  in,  another  to 
fill  in  solid,  another  to  moss  and  water 
and  another  to  keep  the  supply  of 
plants  on  hand,  a  great  many  vases 
can  be  filled  in  a  day. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  the  impor- 
tant item  of  moss.  We  cover  the  sur- 
face of  the  soil,  or  at  least  four  inches 
all  around  from  the  edge,  with  green 
wood  moss.  We  used  to  load  up  wag- 
cns  and  drive  to  the  country  with 
plants  and  soil,  but  find  a  much  better 
plan  is  to  bring  home  the  top  or  bowl 
of  the  vase,  fill  it  and  return  it  the 
same  or  next  day.  People  ask  you  to 
get  their  vase  started  in  the  green- 
house. We  should  want  a  circus  tent 
to  hold  them  all,  and  they  are  none 
the  better  for  getting  the  tender 
growth  of  the  greenhouse.  Fill  them 
up  and  away  with  them. 

Decoration  Day,  or  about  that  time, 
is  the  only  week  of  the  year  that  we 
are  truly  miserable,  but  with  all  the 
hurry  and  vexation  we  survive,  or  have 
up  to  date. 

VENTILATION. 

Ventilation  is  primarily  afforded  to 
keep  down  temperature  when  the  sun's 
rays  have  heated  up  the  houses,  but  to 
give  and  afford  a  free  circulation  of 
fresh  air  to  the  plants  is  quite  as 
much  a  reason  for  ventilation.  Our 
large  glass  of  the  present  day  quickly 
runs  up  the  temperature  with  the  sun 
shining,  and  if  ventilation  is  not  faith- 
fully attended  to  at  the  proper  time 
great  harm,  is  done,  and  in  the  case  of 
roses  months  of  hard  and  faithful  la- 
bor can  be  ruined. 

The  necessity  and  benefit  of  ventila- 
tion is  too  well  known  to  need  any 
lengthy  remarks.  It  is  the  mental  side 
of  the  business.  It  wants  watching 
like  the  water  gauge  of  a  steam  en- 
gine, but  more  scientific.  It  is  the 
same  sort  of  science  that  is  brought 
into  use  by  Mary  Murphy  when  she 
knows  the  potatoes  are  just  done,  and 
cooking  is  a  science.  You  can  lay  down 
rules  that  this  or  that  house  should  be 
ventilated  when  the  thermometer  reg- 
isters a  certain  degree,  but  to  that 
should  be  added  some  knowledge  and 
judgment.  In  rose  growing  it  is  per- 
haps the  most  particular  of  all  work 
connected  .with  them,  and  if  a  man  has 
charge  of  three  or  four  houses  it  will 
almost  keep  him  busy  in  the  spring 
and  fall  months  running  from  one  to 
the  other  regulating  the  ventilation. 

A  man  should  be  able  to  tell  with- 
out even  looking  at  the  thermometer 
whether  the  sashes  are  too  much  or 
not  enough  open.  The  thermometer  is 
of  course  an  infallible  guide  and  au- 
thority, but  there  are  times  when  even 
a  few  degrees  higher  is  of  less  injury 
to  the  plant  than  a  keen,  cutting 
draught  of  air.  Often  the  sashes  are 
opened  six  inches  when  two  inches 
would  be  plenty.  There  is  one  good 
rule  and  that  is  to  begin  ventilating 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


A  Rustic  Vase. 


early  and  take  it  off  early.  Too  many 
are  yet  guilty  of  waiting  till  perhaps 
10  o'clock  on  a  bright  morning  and 
then  opening  up  wide;  first  subjecting 
the  plants  to  an  enervating  heat  and 
then  giving  them  a  sudden  chill.  By 
shutting  up  early  in  the  Afternoon  you 
have  utilized  the  sun  heat  and  saved 
coal,  and  sun  heat  is  always  better  for 
the  plants  than  fire  heat.  There  are 
thousands  of  houses  throughout  the 
country  that  are  sadly  inadequate  in 
ventilation,  and  in  such  houses  roses, 
carnations  and  all  our  flowering  plants 
will  draw  up  weak. 

What  we  are  most  concerned  about 
is  not  the  mistakes  that  have  been 
made,  but  to  prevent  any  more.  In 
houses  that  are  attached  it  is  obvious 
that  side  ventilation  can  only  be  given 
on  the  two  exterior  walls,  and  in  any 
rose  house  we  would  not  have  any 
ventilation  .in  the  side  wall  or  glass, 
even  if  it  cost  nothing,  because  we 
could  not  use  it.  In  plant  houses  or 
in  carnation  houses  side  ventilation  is 
perhaps  desirable,  but  I  think  not  at 
all  necessary  if  ample  ventilation  is 
given  at  the  ridge. 

In  equal  span  carnation  houses  we 
have  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  venti- 
lating sash  on  the  south  side  a  large 
sash  about  5x3  hinged  on  the  north 
side,  8  feet  between  sash.  We  have  no 
ventilating  gear  attached,  but  after 
settled  warm  weather,  or  when  there 
is  no  longer  danger  of  weather  that 
would  hurt  carnations,  we  raise  these 
sash  eight  or  nine  inches .  on  blocks 
of  wood,  and  then  tie  them  securely 
down,  leaving  them  so  till  first  of  Oc- 


tober. Believing  that  if  ample  venti- 
lation is  provided  on  one  side  of  the 
ridge  is  enough,  aad  we  do  believe  it 
from  experience  and  observation  of 
other  people's  houses  and  crops,  then 
it  is  useless  to  discuss  the  matter  fur- 
ther. 

Ventilation  should  be  provided  the 
whole  length  of  a  house.  If  it  is  want- 
ed at  all  in  one  place  in  the  roof  then 
it  is  wanted  the  entire  length,  and  it 
must  be  better  to  give  three  inches  all 
along  than  six  inches  only  in  spots. 
And  this  will  apply  not  only  to  a  rose 
house  but  any  greenhouse  for  whatso- 
ever use  intended.  Though  you  may 
need  but  one  inch  of  ventilation 
throughout  the  whole  month  of  Janu- 
ary, in  June  our  climate  demands  the 
utmost  you  can  give.  It  takes  no  more 
glass  to  have  continuous  ventilation, 
no  more  in  cost  of  apparatus  except  a 
few  arms,  and  only  a  few  dollars  more 
in  extra  ventilators. 

In  the  long-span-to-the-south  the 
ventilation  is  always  on  the  sou.th  side 
of  the  ridge,  and  the  same  in  equal 
span  houses  whose  ridge  runs  east  and 
west.  In  the  short-span-to-the-south 
the  ventilation  is  on  the  north  side  of 
the  ridge.  In  houses  where  the  ridge 
runs  north  and  south,  always  equal 
span,  the  ventilation  should  be  on  the 
east  side.  You  can  open  them  earlier 
and  our  prevailing  winds  are  from  the 
west.  We  are  often  able,  to  give  an 
inch  of  air  at  the  ridge  when  cold  out- 
side without  feeling  any  draught 
whereas  if  the  ventilators  were  hinged 
at  the  ridge  and  opened  two  feet  down 
the  sash  we  should  feel  a  draught.  And 


if  it  is  good  for  one  house  or  one  kind 
of  plants  it  certainly  is  for  all.  So 
that  is  the  way  to  hang  your  ventila- 
tors; let  them  all  open  at  the  ridge. 

While  you  are  having  sash  made 
have  them  large  enough.  If  the 
house  is  from  19  to  23  ft.  wide  the 
ventilators  should  be  from  30  to  36 
inches  deep  and  continuous.  The 
length  of  each  section  should  be  not 
over  5  ft.  or  the  sash  will  be  too 
heavy  to  lift  easily,  but  there  is  not 
nearly  so  much  weight  to  lift  when 
they  open  at  the  ridge  as  when  hinged 
at  the  ridge.  The  ventilator  man  will 
tell  you  how  many  machines  you  need. 

No  one  would  think  in  this  day  of 
ventilating  without  the  use  of  one  of 
the  machines  which  do  their  work  so 
admirably.  They  will  pay  for  them- 
selves easily  in  labor  saving  in  one 
year,  and  without  them  I  can't  see 
how  you  could  manage.  Yet  some 
struggle  on  without  them.  It  is  not 
the  labor  saving  alone,  it  is  the  plants 
that  suffer  when  the  sash  are  moved 
by  ropes  or  rods  or  sticks.  To  raise 
or  lower  a  lot  of  sash  by  those  crude 
methods  is  quite  a  chore  and  too  often 
if  you  are  busy  and  you  think  actual 
necessity  does  not  compel,  you  are  too 
apt  to  say,  "It's  pretty  warm,  but  I 
guess  it  won't  hurt."  You  are  shirk- 
ing the  job,  but  how  easy  to  say,  "Jim, 
put  on  a  crack  of  air,"  and  Jim  turns 
the  handle  and  up  goes  a  hundred  feet 
of  sash  in  a  moment,  and  only  fun  to 
do  it.  There  are  several  good  appli- 
ances. I  have  five  different  makes, 
and  like  best  the  "Challenge"  ventila- 
tor. 

VERANDA  BOXES. 

This  style  of  ornamental  gardening 
is  very  much  in  vogue  in  some  cities. 
In  none  I  think  more  than  the  fine 
residence  city  of  Buffalo.  They  are  an 
evolution  from  the  more  humble  win- 
clow  box  which  I  noticed  was  very 
much  in  use  in  humble  dwellings  of 
European  cities,  where  the  yellow  Cal- 
ceolaria aurea  floribunda  was  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  gaudy  plants,  and 
with  the  blue  lobelia  made  a  most 
striking  show.  The  calceolaria  is  use- 
less here. 

Veranda  boxes  are  not  suitable  in 
connection  with  a  brown  stone  castle, 
and  they  don't  have  anything  as  com- 
mon as  a  veranda,  but  in  many  of  our 
beautiful  homes  where  part  or  the 
front  or  side  of  the  house  is  a  veranda 
they  are  most  appropriate.  They  are 
seldom  on  the  top  of  the  rail,  but 
usually  on  the  level  of  the  floor  of  the 
veranda,  and  the  tops  of  the  plants 
reach  up  to  the  rail. 

If  asked  to  furnish  the  box  you 
should  be  able  to  do  it  and  have  some 
planing  mill  man  of  your  acquaintance 
know  how  to  put  them  together.  Have 
them  made  of  cypress  and  well  painted 
to  suit  the  color  or  the  wood  of  the 
veranda.  A  very  good  size  is  6  inches 
deep,  9  inches  wide  at  top  and  8  inches 
at  bottom,  all  inside  measure.  We  fill 
many  larger,  but  they  should  not  be 
smaller  for  plants  to  do  well.  Holes 
are  bored  in  the  bottom  to  afford 


220 


THE  FLORISTS  MANUAL. 


drainage.  If  they  are  made  in  sec- 
tions of  6  feet  they  are  easy  to  handle 
and  can  be  taken  to  the  greenhouse  to 
fill,  but  if  very  large  we  cart  the  soil 
and  plants  to  the  lawn.  Such  a  box  as 
I  have  given  the  size  for  is  worth  to 
rnakj  of  cypress  and  painted  75  cents 
per  lineal  foot  and  you  should  get  the 
same  price  per  foot  for  filling  it.  Like 
the  vases  a  good  appearance  is.  expect- 
ed from  the  very  start. 

If  in  the  afternoon  sun  the  same 
plants  are  used  as  those  mentioned  for 
vase^,  but  more  cannas  can  be  used  in 
the  back  of  the  box,  and  don't  use  too 
many  coleus  or  they  will  smother  the 
geraniums.  The  drooping  vines  will 
be  the  chief  beauty  of  these  boxes  and 
it.  matters  not  how  common  they  are 
if  they  grow  freely.  The  pilogyne  and 
lophospermum  are  two  splendid  droop- 
ers  for  this,  purpose.  Mignonette  and 
lemon  verbena  can  be  used  for  their 
sweet  odor. 

If  the  boxes  get  only  the  morning 
sun,  or  very  little  at  all,  the  gera- 
niums will  not  flower,  but  you  can  use 
several  plants  that  you  could  not  in 
the  sunny  bleak  exposures  of  the 
cemetery.  Begonia  Rex  looks  well. 
Fuchsias  will  thrive  and  flower  if  not 
too  crowded,  and  small  plants  of  lata- 
nia  and  kentia,  and  better  for  fine  ef- 
fect than  all  is  the  beautiful  nephro- 
lepis,  both  the  Boston  form  and  tuber- 
osa.  Nothing  is  equal  to  these  ferns 
and  if  kept  watered  they  stand  the  sun 
finely. 

Veranda  boxes  are  nearly  always 
satisfactory.  They  are  more  or  less 
sheltered  and  get  plenty  of  water.  In- 
struct your  patrons  that  the  soil  be- 
ing crowded  with  roots  they  want  a 
good  soaking  every  evening  and  tell 
them  that  when  the  coachman  or  they 
themselves  handle  the  hose  not  to 
stand  and  let  drive  at  them  as  if  they 
were  putting  out  a  fire,  but  let  the  hose 
run  in  on  the  soil  till  they  are  well 
wet. 

VERBENA. 

The  garden  variety  of  these  well 
known  plants  are  probably  hybrids. 
They  have  been  decidedly  deposed 
from  their  former  popularity  by  the 
carpet  and  sub-tropical  bedding,  but 
of  late  we  see  many  more  verbena 
beds,  and  few  plants  can  be  prettier. 
The  varieties  we  get  from  seed  are 
now  so  good  that  little  attention  is 
paid  to  named  sorts  and  the  trouble 
of  keeping  them  over  winter  is  dis- 
pensed with. 

If  you  wish  to  propagate  fine  va- 
rieties they  should  be  shortened  back 
about  the  first  of  September  and  kept 
watered.  By  the  end  of  the  month 
there  will  be  plenty  of  nice,  fresh  cut- 
tings, and  only  a  quick,  tender  growth 
should  be  used.  Put  the  cuttings  in 
the  propagating  house,  or  what  is  as 
good,  in  flats  with  some  soil  in  bottom 
and  sand  on  surface.  Keep  the  flats  in 
a  cold  frame  and  keep  moist  and  shad- 
ed from  the  sun.  They  will  take  a  co- 
pious watering  every  day. 

Verbenas  will  stand  quite  a  frost, 
but  it  is  not  well  to  let  th~e  cuttings 


freeze.  When  rooted  they  can  be  kept 
in  a  cool  but  light  house  and  be  kept 
in  the  flats  till  after  New  Year's,  when 
they  can  be  potted  off  into  2^-inch 
pots  and  kept  in  a  temperature  of  50 
degrees.  You  will  soon  get  plenty  of 
cuttings  which  root  very  freely,  and 
before  spring  you  can  have  a  large 
stock.  Plants  propagated  from  cut- 
tings want  to  flower  early  and  those 
propagated  in  February  and  March 
will  want  at  least  one  pinching. 

iSeed  is  now  used  by  most  florists 
for  their  stock  of  verbenas.  It  has  the 
advantage  of  producing  good,  healthy 
plants  free  of  all  disease,  and  when 
planted  out  they  are  sure  to  do  well 
and  make  a  most  satisfactory  flower 
ted.  Sow  the  seed  in  February,  and 
pot  into  2-inch  pots  as.  soon  as  up  an 
inch.  You  can  usually  get  a  cutting 
from  an  early  sowing  if  you  wish.  If 
not  just  pinch  out  the  tip  of  the  plant. 
A  temperature  of  45  to  50  degrees  will 
answer  these  seedlings,  but  they 
should  be  given  full  light. 

There  is  no  place  equal  to  a  mild 
hot  bed  for  the  verbenas,  so  about  the 
middle  of  April  plunge  the  small  pots 
in  a  few  inches  of  soil  in  a  mild  bed. 
They  will  grow  very  fast  and  quickly 
get  rooted  in  the  soil  of  the  bed  which 
will  delay  their  flowering,  particularly 
the  seedlings,  and  for  that  reason  they 
should  be  liftedt  the  roots  rubbed  off 
and  put  back  in  the  same  spot.  That 
will  check  their  growth  and  induce 
them  to  flower.  Most  of  our  customers 
want  to  see  the  colors,  so  it  is  impor- 
tant to  get  them  into  flower. 

Verbenas  are  much  troubled  with 
green  fly,  and  they  should  be  perfectly 
clean  when  they  go  into  the  hot-bed. 
If  affected  with  the  rust  so  trouble- 
some to  the  verbena  when  we  grew 
named  varieties,  throw  them  away;  it 
is  much  cheaper  to  buy  clean  stock. 

Verbena  venosa  is  a  true  species  and 
always  raised  from  seed.  It  can  be 
sown  in  February  and  grown  along  in 
flats.  Its  beautiful  and  abundant  blue 
flowers  make  a  fine  bed  either  alone 
or  in  combination  with  a  silver  leaf 
geranium. 

Verbenas  can  be  planted  out  early 
in  May.  A  slight  frost  will  do  them 
no  harm,  but  our  customers  seldom 
look  for  them  till  end  of  May. 

VINCA. 

The  trailing  V.  major,  and  its  varie- 
gated form,  is  one  of  our  most  useful 
trailing  or  drooping  plants.  The  long 
drooping  growths  seldom  flower,  but 
the  short,  erect  growths  do.  The  flow- 
er is,  however,  of  little  consequence. 
Plant  out  a  sufficient  stock  of  young 


crbcnas., 


SEND  FOR  PRICES. 


Are  grown  by  the 

Hundreds  of  Thousands  by 

J.  L  DILLON Bloomsburg,  Pa. 


plants  in  the  spring.  They  make  a 
great  growth  in  any  good  soil. 

Put  in  cuttings  in  September.  The 
cuttings  should  not  be  made  of  the 
hardest  part  of  the  stems,  and  should 
always  be  of  two  eyes,  as  we  depend 
on  growths  from  the  bottom  eye.  We 
like  the  propagating  bed  for  these  cut- 
tings. They  root  rather  slowly,  but 
surely.  Keep  in  2-inch  pots  till  Janu- 
ary in  any  cool  house  and  then  shift 
into  3-inch.  As  they  grow  they  will 
need  the  edge  of  the  bench,  or  the 
edge  of  a  rose  or  carnation  bench,  so 
that  their  long  growths  can  hang 
down. 

Some  growers  lift  up  the  plants 
from  the  field  in  October  and  stand  on 
the  edge  of  the  benches.  They  make 
fine  decorative  plants  for  some  occa- 
sions, as  their  numerous  growths  will 
be  several  feet  long.  In  February 
they  divide  the  large  plants  and  pot 
into  3  or  4-inch  pots. 

The  young  growths  are  troubled 
with  green  fly.  Any  soil  and  any  cool 
house  will  grow  them,  and  they  need 
little  light  till  they  begin  to  make 
their  growth  in  early  spring.  Use 
good  rich  soil  when  shifting  from  2 
to  3-inch,  as  you  want  them  to  grow 
fast. 

Vinca  minor,  often  strangely  called 
myrtle  by  our  people,  is  perfectly 
hardy.  Where  grass  won't  grow  in 
shady  city  lots  it  covers  the  ground 
finely.  It  can  be  divided  and  planted 
either  in  spring  or  fall  and  will  quick- 
ly cover  the  ground. 

Vinca  rosea  is  a  very  different  plant 
and  requires  a  warm  house  in  winter. 
It  makes  a  pretty  greenhouse  plant, 
but  its  chief  use  with  us  is  in  the  flow- 
er garden,  where  it  makes  a  very  pret- 
ty bed,  and  a  change  from  the  high 
colored  geraniums.  It  can  be  easily 
raised  from  seed  sown  in  January  and 
fcrown  on  in  a  light,  warm  house,  and 
needs  an  occasional  pinching  to  make 
the  plants  bushy. 

Plants  can  also  be  lifted  and  after 
New  Year's  cut  back,  when  you  will 
get  young  growths  which  root  freely. 
Don't  plant  out  till  frost  is  surely 
past. 

VIOLET. 

The  violets  we  grow  are  varieties  of 
V.  odorata.  There  is  ever  an  increas- 
ing  love  of  the  violet,  and  it  seems 
that  the  past  three  or  four  years  the 
quantity  grown  and  sold  is  enormous. 
Violets  are  rather  a  precarious  crop 
here;  if  you  fail  you  fail  entirely.  In 
milder  climates  where  only  the  pro- 
tection of  a  cold-frame  is  needed  there 
is  not  so  much  fear  of  failure.  South 
of  Baltimore  violets  are  grown  in  cold- 
frames  and  covered  with  mats  in  cold 
weather.  That  would  not  do  for  us, 
although  with  careful  attention  you 
can  have  a  lot  in  the  cold-frames  that 
will  give  you  flowers  sometimes  till 
Christmas,  and  again  in  April,  and  for 
later  they  are  better  than  those  grown 
all  winter  inside. 

Fine  crops  of  violets  have  been 
grown  by  several  methods.  And  many 
yet  adhere  to  the  plan  of  planting  out 


THE  FLORISTS*  MANUAL. 


221 


the  young  stock  in  May  and  lifting  in 
September,  and  planting  in  six.  inches 
of  soil  on  a  bench.  •  If  you  are  success- 
ful that  way  keep  on.  I,  however,  have 
seen  many  failures  that  way,  and  be- 
lieve in  and  practice  a  method  that  is 
I  think  more  natural  to  the  plant,  and 
by  which  method  I  have  for  several 
seasons  now  been  entirely  successful. 
Without  mentioning  the  methods  of 
other  people  or  what  I  don't  practice 
I  will  at  once  give  my  plan  and  expe- 
rience. 

I  have  repeatedly  tried  both  the  run- 
ners and  division  of  the  old  plant,  and 
have  decidedly  the  best  results  with 
the  runners,  cut  off  in  February  and 
put  in  the  sand  as  we  do  other  cut- 
tings. As  we  use  no  bottom  heat  for 
them  flats  with  two  inches  of  sand 
will  do  just  as  well.  When  well  root- 
ed we  pot  into  2%  -inch  pots  and  keep 
for  a  few  weeks  in  a  carnation  house 
temperature,  and  give  them  the  full 
light.  By  middle  to  end  of  April  we 
put  them  into  a  cold-frame  and  by 
middle  of  May  remove  the  sash  entire- 
ly. There  they  will  grow  stout  and 
strong.  Early  in  June  we  plant  them 
about  ten  inches  apart  on  the  benches. 

I  will  stop  here  to  say  that  a  violet 
house  should  be  equal  span,  running 
north  and  south,  with  solid  beds.  The 
walls  need  not  be  over  2  feet  high 
and  the  paths  can  be  dug  out  1  foot, 
which  leaves  the  surface  of  the  beds 
at  a  convenient  height  to  work;  19 
feet  is  a  good  width,  with  two  side 
benches,  two  paths  and  a  6-foot  6-in. 
middle  bed.  Although  the  plants  in 
the  middle  of  the  center  bench  are  ten 
feet  from  the  glass  they  are  just  as 


Bed  of  Vinca  Rosea. 

good  as  those  on  the  side  bench  that 
are  only  two  feet  from  the  glass.  The 
pipes  are  hung  on  the  side  walls  a 
foot  above  the  plants;  no  heat 
descends  to  cause  red  spider.  Three 
2-inch  hot  water  pipes  on  each  side 
will  heat  this  house  very  nicely.  A 
small  house  will  do  as  well,  but  it  is 
n\uch  cheaper  to  build  the  larger 
house  than  two  small  ones. 

The  beds  being  solid,  we  remove  the 
top  six  inches  of  soil  and  fork  in  some 
bone  dust  another  six  inches  deep, 
then  put  on  our  new  soil.  A  rather 
heavy  loam  suits  them  best,  but  not  at 
all  stiff.  Violets  don't  like  fresh  ani- 
mal manure  and  if  the  compost  is  put 
up  the  fall  previous  it  will  be  to  ad- 
vantage. It  need  not  be  turfy  soil 
such  as  you  would  look  for  in  rose 
growing.  We  have  used  the  top  five 
inches  of  a  clover  sod  and  found  it  ex- 
cellent. When  piling  it  up  add  an 
eighth  of  well  rotted  cow  manure,  and 
when  chopping  over  in  spring  for  use 
add  half  a  peck  of  bone  flour  to  every 
cubic  yard.  Make  the  bed  only  moder- 
ately firm. 

For  two  seasons  we  removed  the 
glass  entirely.  This  you  can  do  if  your 
roof  is  sash,  or  better  still,  butted 
glass,  but  on  building  a  larger  house 
we  rather  begrudged  the  labor  and  re- 
moved only  every  third  run  of  glass. 
As  the  sun  moves,  or  rather  we  do, 
the  same  plants  do  not  get  the  sun  for 
very  long  and  when  it  rains  those  im- 
mediately below  get  the  benefit  of  the 
rain,  but  that  is  easily  regulated  in 
watering.  The  remainder  of  the  glass 
is  shaded.  This  plan  gives  a  perfect 
circulation  of  air  and  keeps  the  house 


cool.  If  I  could  not  remove  the  glass 
then  I  would  have  a  continuous  foot  of 
ventilation  in  both  side  walls. 

The  violets  soon  begin  to  grow  and 
need  plenty  of  water  during  all  times. 
Up  to  New  Year's  you  should  keep  the 
runners  cut  off.  Not  the  stout  little 
off  shoots  that  are  near  the  original 
crown,  let  them  remain,  but  the  real 
runners  that  make  a  growth  of  three 
or  four  inches.  During  summer  and 
at  all  times  violets  must  be  kept 
scrupulously  clean.  There  is  work 
about  them  and  so  there  is  about  any- 
thing that  there  is  an  honest  dollar  in. 
You  must  go  over  them  repeatedly  and 
clean  off  imperfect  flowers,  yellow 
leaves,  etc. 

During  July,  August  and  September 
the  violets  must  be  frequently  syring- 
ed to  keep  down  red  spider.  Don't 
sprinkle  them  just  to  make  them 
moist,  but  let  them  have  a  sharp,  fine 
stream  with  the  hose  every  two  or 
three  days,  and  remember  the  spider 
is  on  the  underside  of  the  leaf.  If  you 
let  red  spider  get  a  foothold  in  August 
you  will  have  a  great  job  to  get  rid  of 
them  by  October,  when  too  much  sy- 
ringing would  not  be  good,  but  syring- 
ing in  the  hot  months  is  beneficial.  If 
your  violets  are  clean  of  spider  by  end 
of  September  there  is  little  fear  of 
your  being  troubled  with  them  after 
that.  During  winter  they  do  not  want 
any  syringing,  but  want  plenty  of 
water  at  the  roots,  which  can  be  given 
copiously  without  wetting  the  leaves. 
We  put  our  glass  in  towards  end  of 
September.  Top  ventilation  is  then 
plenty. 

Firing  should  be  put  off  till  there  is 


222 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


danger  of  the  houses  going  below  40 
degrees  at  night,  but  a  little  fire  with 
the  ventilators  open  will  do  good  in 
a  wet,  cool  time.  By  fire  heat  we  like 
to  keep  the  houses  about  40  to  42  de- 
grees at  night  and  55  degrees  in  day 
time.  If  sun  heat  goes  up  to  60  or  65 
degrees  no  harm  is  done.  Green  fly 
does  not  trouble  the  violets  in  summer 
but  appears  often  in  September  or  Oc- 
tober. For  that  we  vaporize  with  to- 
bacco extract,  being  careful  not  to 
make  it  too  strong. 

End  of  October  we  clean  the  beds 
carefully,  sprinkle  on  some  bone  flour 
and  stir  it  into  the  soil,  and  then  put 
on  half  an  inch  of  rotten  leaves  or 
very  rotten  manure. 

The  chief  trouble  with  the  violet  is 
the  spot,  which  is  probably  a  mould  or 
fungus,  and  has  been  proved  to  be 
spread  by  syringing.  I  know  of  noth- 


fly  that  punctures  the  leaf  and  lays  an 
egg  that  destroys  the  tissue.  We  have 
seen  the  fly.  Tobacco  in  any  form  has 
no  effect  on  it.  As  a  preventive  we 
have  used  the  hydrocyanic  acid  gas, 
and  it  had  nothing  but  the  very  best 
results  on  violets.  And  it  destroys  all 
kinds  of  aphis  or  anything  that  has 
lungs. 

A  little  experience  with  this  deadly 
gas  very  recently  may  be  of  interest. 
We  generated  the  gas  to  kill  the  black 
fly  on  chrysanthemums,  but  brought 
into  the  house  a  plant  each  of  Adian- 
tums  cuneatum  and  Farleyense,  both 
of  which  had  young,  tender  fronds. 
After  the  operation  we  found  that  a 
few  of  the  very  tips  of  the  chrysan- 
themums were  touched,  mostly  near 
where  the  jars  stood,  but  the  ferns  the 
next  day  or  since  have  not  shown  the 
slightest  effects  from  it.  The  formula 


The  California  does  not  want  its  run- 
ners cut  off  after  November,  as  from 
the  runners  you  soon  get  flowers.  A 
few  plants  should  always  be  grown 
for  their  leaves,  which  are  always  in 
abundance,  and  fine,  small  green  galax 
leaves  are  much  used  with  the  double 
violet;  it  is  better  than  robbing  our 
plants  of  their  leaves. 

WATERING. 

No  subject  connected  with  horticul- 
ture is  more  difficult  to  handle  than 
this.  You  cannot  give  any  specific  di- 
rections; you  can  only  give  general 
ideas.  Watering  occupies  much  of  the 
labor  of  a  florist  and  its  proper  execu- 
tion is  of  the  greatest  importance. 
Plants  in  the  ground  are  assisted  occa- 
sionally by  artificial  watering,  but 
with  our  entirely  artificial  way  of 
growing  them  on  benches  and  in  pots 


ing  else  but  picking  off  the  affected 
leaf  the  moment  you  see  it.  It  ap- 
pears first  as  a  little  black  speck  and 
then  radiates  out,  killing  the  tissue. 
Some  application  of  sulphur  or  Bor- 
deaux mixture  might  destroy  it,  but 
either  will  destroy  every  leaf  of  the 
violet.  We  have  tried  the  Bordeaux 
mixture  and  had  a  most  convincing 
experiment.  We  do  not  consider  the 
spot  at  all  dangerous  if  you  keep  your 
foliage  dry  and  maintain  a  genial  dry 
atmosphere,  and  destroy  the  leaves 
whenever  you  discover  it. 

The  violet  is  subject  to  a  small 
green  slug  which  appears  in  the  au- 
tumn. Perhaps  this  small  half-inch 
long  worm  is  the  larva  of  some  beetle. 
It  riddles  the  leaves  sadly.  I  have 
never  been  troubled  with  it,  but  have 
frequently  seen  it,  and  saw  it  destroy- 
ed by  an  application  of  flour  and  paris 
green  dusted  thoroughly  among  the 
leaves. 

What  we  most  dread  is  what  we  call 
"curled  leaf,"  when  the  young  leaves 
curl  and  wrinkle  up.  An  authority  in- 
forms me  that  it  is  caused  by  a  minute 


House  of  Violets. 

for  this  gas  is  in  article  on  Fungicides 
and  Insecticides. 

We  are  often  asked  for  pots  of  vio- 
lets, and  it  is  quite  an  Easter  plant. 
They  would  not  last  long  in  a  living 
room,  however  well  established,  and 
we  cannot  grow  a  plant  so  satisfacto- 
rily as  by  lifting  a  few  of  the  best 
budded  a  week  or  ten  days  before  they 
are  wanted. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  this 
sweet  flower,  but  we  cannot  find  one 
to  suit  the  public,  or  so  satisfactory 
to  grow  and  flower,  as  Marie  Louise, 
the  beautiful  blue  with  more  or  less 
white  eye;  the  better  grown  the  less 
eye.  Farquahar  is  no  improvement. 
The  old  Neapolitan  is  a  beautiful  vio- 
let and  is  still  grown  by  some,  but  its 
color  is  not  liked  by  the  many.  You 
don't  want  many  white  violets;  about 
a  tenth  of  your  stock.  All  of  the  above 
want  the  same  treatment. 

The  strong  growing  single  flowered 
California  can  be  grown  in  the  same 
way,  or  it  does  very  well  planted  out 
and  lifted  in  September.  They  sell 
very  well,  but  not  equal  to  the  double. 


and  tubs  they  are  entirely  dependent 
on  our  attendance  to  their  most  im- 
portant element,  water. 

I  remarked  some  years  ago  that 
good  waterers,  like  poets,  are  born  not 
made.  Here  again  is  the  most  truly 
mental  part  of  our  business.  The  me- 
chanical application  is  considerable, 
but  not  near  as  important  as  the 
knowledge  and  judgment  required  to 
know  just  when  to  water.  A  gentle- 
man at  the  Canadian  Horticultural 
convention,  lately  assembled  at  Ot- 
tawa, expressed  his  admiration  for  the 
exclusive  use  of  the  watering  pot  in 
the  European  gardens. 

The  writer  has  had  a  good  deal  of 
practice  with  the  watering  can,  both 
here  and  in  Great  Britain,  and  has 
not  the  slightest  veneration  for  the 
watering  pot  or  its  use.  We  don't  be- 
lieve that  the  production  of  fine  plants 
has  anything  to  do  with  the  use  of 
them  and  believe  the  hose  has  many 
advantages  and  no  disadvantages  that 
we  can  see.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of 
who  is  handling  it.  The  hose  in  the 
hands  of  a  careless  man  may  be  dan- 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


223 


gerous  to  the  plants  from  over  water- 
ing, while  if  the  same  man  had  to 
carry  water  in  cans  he  would  be  prob- 
ably too  lazy  and  the  plants  would  suf- 
fer for  want  of  water.  The  watering 
can  is  laborious,  slow,  and  expensive. 
The  hose  is  one-tenth  the  labor;  no 
excuse  for  scrimping  the  plants,  the 
water  can  be  applied  at  any  degree  of 
speed,  and  the  hose  can  be  used  as  a 
syringe  to  perfection. 

You  can  soak  a  carnation  bed  in  the 
month  of  May  in  one-twentieth  of  the 
time  you  could  with  a  can.  You  can 
run  a  stream  among  violets  in  No- 
vember without  wetting  their  leaves 
far  better  than  you  can'with  a  water- 
ing pot.  You  can  water  a  bench  of 
geraniums  in  the  month  of  May  with 
pleasure  and  do  it  thoroughly.  You 
can  with  a  very  slow  stream  look  over 
all  your  palms  at  any  season.  You  can 
water  a  7->foot  bench  of  lilies  perfectly 
when  they  are  standing  pretty  close 
together,  which  you  could  hardly  do  at 
all  with  a  watering  pot.  You  can  with 
a  fine  rose  attached  moisten  the  most 
particular  orchid,  or  water  a  propagat- 
ing bed,  or  even  a  flat  of  seeds  if  you 
know  how  to  handle  the  hose.  In  fact, 
you  can  do  anything  and  everything 
with  a  hose  connected  with  watering 
or  syringing  plants,  and  to  go  back  to 
the  old  watering  pot  would  be  as  bad 
as  a  Manitoba  wheat  farmer  discarding 
the  gang  plow  and  adopting  the  pecu- 
liar method  described  by  Dean  Swift's 
Gulliver  who  dropped  on  a  race  of  peo- 
ple who  plowed  their  land  by  burying 
in  their  fields  acorns  and  then  drove 
the  pigs  in  which  hunting  with  their 
noses  for  the  acorns,  disturbed  the 
soil.  And  the  handling  of  4-gallon 
watering  cans  at  a  tender  age  used  to 
produce  a  corn  on  our  palms. 

It  is  merely  the  science  of  handling 
the  hose.  A  man  to  be  a  first  class  hand 
at  watering  in  plant  houses  should 
have  perfect  sight.  We  had  a  man  for 
several  years  who  in  other  respects 
was  a  zealous  worker,  but  would  miss 
plants  here  and  there  and  leave  plants 
that  were  very  dry  without  a  drop  of 
water.  When  he  left  us  he  donned  spec- 
tacles. He  was  very  short  sighted  and 
had  always  been  so  but  did  not  want 
us  to  know  it. 

We  have  read  in  a  very  good  little 
volume  on  floriculture  that  a  man 
watered  a  house  in  a  very  few  minutes 
by  spraying  the  whole  lot.  We  don't 
of  course  believe  in  any  such  work. 
Pouring  a  stream  of  water  over  a  mixed 
lot  of  plants  would  be '  absurd..  The 
houses  that  contain  only  one  kind  of 
plants  are  much  more  simple  to  water 
than  a  house  or  bench  containing  seve- 
ral, or  perhaps  twenty,  but  as  we  have 
all  plants  standing  in  blocks,  each  sort 
by  themselves,  it  is  yet  simple  to  dis- 
tinguish whether  this  batch  wants  it  or 
whether  it  would  be  better  left  till  to- 
morrow. 

We  don't  all  have  whole  houses  or 
benches  of  one  plant.  Just  now,  Oc- 
tober, a  very  particular  month  for 
watering,,  you  may  have  on  a  bench  a 
few  ericas,  next  azaleas,  next  some 
Harrisii  lilies,  next  pot  chrysanthe- 


mums, next  acacias,  next  cyclamen, 
next  some  flowering  geraniums.  Some 
may  want  water  and  some  are  much 
better  left  to  the  following  morning, 
and  if  your  hose  is  running  slowly 
how  easy  to  pass  on  to  the  next  batch. 
Some  men  have  to  be  told  repeatedly 
that  they  do  not  get  through  watering 
any  faster  by  letting  such  a  strong 
steam  run,  and  do  not  do  the  work  so 
well.  Whatever  judgment  is  required 
about  quantity  for  a  bench,  there  is 
very  little  about  watering  plants  in 
pots.  If  they  want  watering  they  want 
it,  and  that  means  that  the  space  be- 
tween the  soil  and  rim  of  pot  is  filled 
with  water;  that  is  a  watering,  and 
that  is  what  we  tell  our  customers 
when  they  ask  the  question,  "How 
much  water  shall  I  give  it?" 

Now,  if  the  stream  is  moderately 
slow  the  water  you  pour  on  will  re- 
main and  fill  up,  but  if  a  strong  stream 
it  will  dash  off  onto  the  bench  and 
leave  the  plant  deficient  of  water.  In 
April  and  May  and  the  summer 
months  a  less  experienced  hand  can 
water  many  things  for  there  is  less 
danger  of  overwatering,  and  if  the 
benches  and  paths  receive  a  lot  of 
overflow  no  harm  is  done,  for  you 
want  to  damp  down  as  it  is,  when 
evaporation  is  great. 

It  is  quite  different  in  October  and 
November  when  there  is  little  fire  heat 
and  superfluous  moisture  would  be  in- 
jurious. As  you  pass  along  with  the 
hose  you  water  the  flowering  geranium 
without  any  syringing,  and  you  come 
to  500  achyranthes  that  want  not  only 
watering  but  a  good  syringing  too.  The 
cinerarias  won't  want  syringing  but 
the  cytisus  will.  And  there  you  have 
with  your  hose  and  your  forefinger  a 
watering  can  and  syringe  in  one. 

After  middle  of  May  watering  in 
plant  houses  can  be  done  in  the  after- 
noon. In  fall,  winter  and  early  spring 
it  should  be  done  in  the  morning.  Per- 
haps it  is  the  color  of  the  soil,  perhaps 
it  is  instinct  or  long  practice  that  en- 
ables us  to  see  at  a  glance  when  a 
plant  or  batch  of  plants  needs  water. 
A  practiced  hand  will  know  that  the 
plants  along  the  back  of  the  bench 
where  the  heat  of  the  pipes  may  bs 
coming  up,  or  the  front  row  where  the 
sun  and  air  gets  more  play  at  them, 
may  want  water  while  the  rest  do  not. 
So  he  will  run  his  hose  along  those 
rows  and  say  to  himself  if  he  is  think- 
ing of  his  business  and  not  of  his  best 
girl,  "Tomorrow  the  whole  lot  will 
take  it." 

The  quantity  of  water  that  a  plant 
in  pot  needs,  as  before  said,  is  not  a 
question;  it  wants  water  or  it  does  not. 
It  never  wants  a  little.  With  a  bench 
of  carnations  or  roses  it  is  different. 
I  believe  except  in  hot  weather  in 
spring  that  no  more  should  be  given  a 
bench  than  will  go  thoroughly  to  the 
bottom,  and  no  more,  but  be  sure  you 
give  it  enough  to  do  that.  This  is  not 
so  easy  to  determine,  but  practice  and 
observation  with  one  or  two  waterings, 
will  soon  teach  you  about  how  much 
will  be  proper,  and  it  should  be  ap- 
plied softly,  either  with  a  rose  attach- 


ed to  the  hose,  which  is  quickly  un- 
screwed when  you  want  to  begin  to  sy- 
ringe, or  with  a  piece  of  flattened  tin 
attached  to.  hose,  off  which  it  passes  in 
a  gentle  stream. 

Some  authors  say  a  plant  should  be 
allowed  to  get  rather  on  the  dry  side 
and  then  be  given  water.  Plants  going 
to  partial  or  entire  rest  in  the  fall  will 
of  course  want  to  be  allowed  to  get 
more  and  more  often  dry,  but  it  is  not 
so  with  our  roses,  carnations,  violets, 
or  our  lilies  or  cyclamen  or  geraniums, 
or  any  plants  that  are  growing  fast, 
especially  in  spring. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  that  a  batch 
of  plants,  let  it  be  fuchsias  or  gerani- 
ums or  roses  in  pots,  or  anything  else 
that  is  growing  fast,  that  are  plunged 
to  their  rims  in  refuse  hops,  ashes  or 
tanbark,  will  far  outstrip  a  batch  of 
the  same  sort  with  the  pots  bare.  There 
is  no  evaporation  from  the  sides  of  the 
plunged  pot  and  consequently  a  more 
uniform  moisture,  and  that  is  the  sole 
reason.  This  is  very  marked  and  a 
good  lesson  for  us.  Letting  plants 
whose  roots  are  active  get  repeatedly 
on  the  dry  side  day  after1  day  will  tell 
on  them  and  stunt  their  growth  com- 
pared with  those  that  are  kept  at  a 
more  uniform  moisture.  This  may  be 
of  no  detriment  to  our  bedding  ge- 
raniums or  coleus  or  cannas,  but  it  is 
to  the  plants  that  we  want  to  make  a 
fine  growth  or  produce  fine  flowers. 

Some  may  say,  look  at  the  plants  in 
the  field.  "My  carnations  have  not  had 
a  drop  of  water  or  rain,  in  six  weeks, 
but  they  are  growing."  They  are  un- 
der entirely  different  conditions.  We 
hoe  the  surface,  or  ought  to.  Evapo- 
ration from  the  ground  is  continually 
going  on,  and  the  looser  we  keep  the 
surface  the  faster  will  be  evaporation, 
and  the  more  evaporation  from  the 
surface  the  more  moisture  rises  to  the 
surface  from  the  depths  of  the  ground 
to  nourish  the  roots.  This  is  called 


RUBBER  HOSE 

For  Florists,  Seedsmen, 
Nurserymen,  Gardeners,  Etc, 

&-inch  10-ply $20.00  per  100  feet 

&-mch    7-ply 15.00 

&-inch   5-ply 12.50 

^-inch   7-ply 12.50 

M-inch   4-ply 10.00 

}^-mch   4-ply  and  5-ply 10.00 

Made  in  25  ft.  or  50  ft.  lengths,  couplings  attached. 

The  %-inch  10-ply  hose  is  absolutely  best  quality 
and  most  satisfactory  for  greenhouse  usage. 

MANUFACTURERS'  RUBBER  CO, 

45  Vesey  Street,          NEW  YORK  CZTY. 
IF  YOU  WANT.... 

A  GOOD 
GREENHOUSE   HOSE 

that  will  wear,  write 

J.  G.  &  A.  ESLER,  Saddle  River,  N.  J, 


224 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


capillary  attraction.  Hence  it  follows 
that  the  deeper  we  have  plowed  or 
dug,  or  the  more  we  have  broken  up 
the  subsoil,  the  better  will  the  law  of 
capillary  attraction  benefit  the  plant. 
So  there  is  a  more  uniform  moisture 
at  the  root  than  you  think,  even  in 
the  dryest  time. 

All  this  benefit  is  of  course  cut  off 
entirely  in  cultivating  in  pots  and  on 
bench. 

Have  you  ever  noticed  where  a  drain 
or  sewer  was  laid  four  feet  deep  in  a 
stiff  clay  the  grass  for  years  over  the 
drain  will  be  green  in  the  dryest  time, 
because  by  the  disturbance  and  break- 
ing up  of  the  soil  capillary  attraction 
is  helped? 

The  sub-watering  experiments  on 
our  benches  is  yet  too  new  for  me  to 
enter  into,  and  our  trade  papers  have 
given  full  accounts  of  the  methods. 
Something  practical  may  be  yet  evolv- 
ed by  our  learned  professors. 

In  conclusion  you  should  keep  one 
man  watering  one  house.  He  may 
water  half  a  dozen,  but  if  it  is  the 
same  man  and  he  is  a  gardener  he 
will  remember  the  condition  that  he 
left  the  plants  on  the  previous  day, 


Zinnias* 

and  will  know  just  about  what  will 
want  it  the  next.  A  good,  intelligent, 
faithful  waterer  is  as  valuable  a  man 
as  you  have  on  your  place. 

ZINNIA. 

The  annual  zinnias  are  the  only  ones 
in  which  the  florist  is  interested.  With 
selection  and  culture,  they  are  now 
among  the  handsomest  of  our  annuals 
for  the  border,  and  in  certain  places 
a  whole  bed  of  them,  in  many  shades, 
is  very  striking. 

They  are  very  easy  to  grow  and  need 
only  the  ordinary  treatment  given 
many  other  annuals,  except  that  no 
frost  must  ever  touch  them  while  in  a, 
cold-frame.  Sow  from  the  middle  to 
the  end  of  March,  and  when  an  inch 
high  transplant  into  flats  two  inches 
apart.  By  the  middle  of  April  a  cold- 
frame  is  the  right  place  for  them. 
Plant  in  beds  or  borders  after  there  is 
no  danger  of  frost. 

They  are  strong,  rampant  growers, 
and  should  have  plenty  of  room; 
eighteen  inches  to  two  feet  apart  is 
close  enough.  They  sho'uld  have  a  well 
tilled  piece  of  ground  and  will  then 


stand  our  hot,  and  often  dry,  sum- 
mers better  than  most  of  our  summer 
flowering  plants. 

While  the  zinnia  well  deserves  a 
place  in  the  flower  garden,  it  is  the 
most  unpopular  of  all  flowers  for  even 
the  cheapest  sort  of  a  bouquet.  The 
poorest  purchaser  does  not  want  them 
at  any  price.  We  have  noticed  this  so 
often  that  we  never  cut  them,  however 
short  of  cheap  flowers  we  may  be. 
This  proves  that  there  is  an  uncon- 
scious taste  for  the'  artistic,  even 
among  the  most  lowly.  The  zinnia  is 
so  absolutely  regular  in  form,  stiff  and 
formal,  one  flower  being  exactly  like 
another,  that  the  eye  rebels  against 
it.  In  a  bunch  of  roses,  carnations,  or 
almost  any  other  flower,  no  two  are 
precisely  alike,  but  the  zinnias  look  as 
though  they  all  came  out  of  one 
mould.  Then  again,  the  stem  is  so 
rigid  that  while  it  is  all  right  on  the 
plant,  it  detracts  from  the  flower  when 
cut. 

Grow  zinnias  to  make  your  border 
gay,  but  don't  offer  the  cut  flowers  to 
your  customers.  We  raise  quantities 
every  year  and  sell  the  young  plants 
from  the  flats  at  25  cents  per  dozen. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


225 


SEEDS 

PLANTS 

BULBS 

TOOLS 

ETC. 


FOR 
THE 

GARDEN 
GREENHOUSE 
LAWN  AND  FARM 

Are  supplied  by  us  only  direct  to  the  planter. 
SEND  FOR  CATALOGUES. 

PETER  HENDERSON  &  CO. 

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Stumpp  &  Walter  Co. 


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;  RUTHERFORD,  N.  J. 

RHODODENRONS,  HARDY  AZALEAS, 

H.  P.  ROSES,  CLEMATIS,  MAGNOLIAS,  Etc. 

FANCY  EVERGREENS,  INDIAN  AZALEAS, 
TUBEROUS  BEGONIAS,  GLOXINIAS,  Etc. 

Dutch  Bulbs,  Hyacinths,  Tulips,  Crocus,  Etc. 

FRENCH  SEEDLINGS  AND 
ORNAMENTAL  NURSERY  STOCK. 


(Competition 
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is  open  for  all     £j 

competitors, 

and  the  fastest  wins.     If  you  have  never  tried  our  goods 

give  us  a  chance,  and  we  assure  you  our  goods  cannot 

but  help  you  make  money. 

WRITE  FOR  CATALOGUE. 


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TELEPHONE  CONNECTIONS. 


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Have  for  over  twenty  years  supplied  the  Trade  with  Bulbs,  Seeds  and  Plants 
Were  the  first  firm  in  the  United  States  making  large  imports  from 
Japan.  Recommend  themselves  for 

111.  HatPislI,  Lonslflorum,  Auratum,  Bubpum,  Aibum, 
etc.  Tuberoses,  Begonias,  Gloxinias,  Callas,  Cy- 
damen,  Valley,  etc. 

All  Palm  Seeds,  especially  Kentla,  Asparagus  P.  N. 
and  Sprengerll.  Flower  Seeds  of  all  kinds. 

ni    A  MTC         Cycas  Revoluta  stems,     Fern  Balls,    Aspidistra, 
p  LAIl  I  OB  Azaleas,  Roses,  Clematis,  etc. 

Address  all  communications  as  above.    Any  information  or  estimates 
cheerfully  given. 


HAGEMANN  &  MEYER, 


Wholesale 
Importers  of 


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AND  IMMORTELLES 


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Address  all  correspondence  to  New  York  Office. 


226 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


1 '"! 


i 


JULIUS  ROEHRS, 

CARLTON   HILL,  N.  J. 


Headquarters  for 


Orchids,         | 
Palms,f 
Trees,     f 


Large 


Bay 


And  all  varieties  and  sizes  of 


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g      BUSINESS  ESTABLISHED  SINCE  187O.      | 

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IN  NEW  YORK. 

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Telephone  and  Telegraph  Orders  given  immedi- 


«£ 

1 


ate  attention. 


RELIABLE! 


PERMANENT 


CARNATIONS 

ROSES, 

VIOLETS 


ORCHIDS 


SPECIALTY 


Correspondence  Solicited 


VA 


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49th  and  Market  Sts., 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


Palms,  Ferns 

and  Decorative 
Plants 


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Collection  of  iy|\U  I  UllO  America. 


- 


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THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


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Azalea  Indical 

THE  INDIAN  AZALEA  NURSERIES. 


ESTABLISHED   1842. 


The  Best  Place  in  Europe  to  send  your  orders  for  Azalea  Indica, 


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IN  THE 

SEASON. 


OF 

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TO  FLORISTS 

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if-  $•  if-  JP  if-  if-'  if-'  fc  if-  if-  if-'  if-  if-'  if- 


The  stock  grown  on  the  extensive  grounds  of  the  Indian  Azalea  Nurseries,  at 
Swynaerde,  Ghent,  Belgium  (the  largest  establishment  of  its  kind  in  Europe),  is  nicely 
shaped,  well  budded  and  the  assortment  is  of  the  best  and  most  salable  varieties. 

Choice  of  assortment,  provided  orders  reach  us  in  good  time.  The  stock  on  hand 
is  very  large  and  nicet  especially  in  the  JO  to  18-inch  crowns. 

Catalogue  free  on  application.    For  full  particulars  write  to 

EIG.  VERVAET  de  VOS, 

Proprietor  of  the  Indian  Azalea  Nurseries,      Swynaerde,  Ghent,  Belgium. 


228 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Trees 
^  Shrubs  and 
Roses 


for  public  and  private  grounds,  as  well  as  for  the 
orchard,  farm,  garden  or  city  lot.  Our  General 
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CHOICE  SELECTIONS.    BEST  GOODS. 
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A  NEW  FEATURE  FOR  1899 

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THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


229 


i 


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BEST 

STANDARD 
VARIETIES 
OF.... 


Sq.  Feet  of  Glass  for 


LONG 

DISTANCE 
PHONE  99. 


g  Roses,  Carnations, 

I  Cannas,  Geraniums, 

|  Chrysanthemums  and 

I  General  Florists'  Stock. 


Flowers  and  Vegetables  I 


SEND  US  YOUR  ORDERS. 


WE  CAN  PLEASE  YOU. 


J.  F.  WILCOX, 


521  Broadway.. 


COUNCIL  BLUFFS,  IA. 


Dreer's  Specialties 

PALMS,  FERNS, 
DECORATIVE   PLANTS, 

NEW  AND  RARE  AQUATICS. 

Nymphaeas,  Nelumbiums,  Victorias,  Etc. 

HERBACEOUS  PLANTS. 

A  large  collection  of  all  the  desirable  species. 

NOVELTIES. 

All  the  latest  introductions. 

Wholesale  Trade  Price  List,  issued  quarterly,  offers  and  describes 
everything  required  by  the  trade  in  Seeds,  Plants,  Bulbs  and  Sup- 
plies. Sent  free  to  florists. 

HENRY  A.  DREER,   714  Chestnut  St.,  PHILADELPHIA. 


HENRY  EICHHOLZ, 


Geranium 
Hybridiser  and  Specialist. 


r 


MARS 


AND  THEIR 
SEEDLINGS 


AMERICA 


All  Foreign  Novelties  of  Merit. 

PRICES  ON  APPLICATION. 

HENRY  EICHHOLZ,    Waynesboro,  &kt!in  Pa. 


E.  G.  HILL  &  CO. 

RICHMOND    INDIANA. 

Fine  Novelties  and  Best  Standard 
Varieties  in 


And  General 
Florists'  Stock. 


E.  G.  HILL  &  CO. 


McFadden's  SPECIALTIES. 

PALMS.     Trade  sizes. 

BOSTON  FERNS.     All  sizes.    Finest  stock  in  the  country. 
ADIANTUM    FARLEYENSE, 

SMALL  FERNS.    Fern  Spores  in  variety. 

ASPARAGUS  PLUMOSUS  NANUS  and  SPRENGEBI. 

Cut  Asparagus  Plumosus  Nanus  and  Sprengeri  m  any  quan- 
tity at  all  seasons. 
IS"  We  grow  for  the  trade  only.    Write  for  Wholesale  Price  Lists 

EMERSON  C.  McEADDEN, 

UNITED    STATES    EXOTIC    NURSERIES, 

(Formerly  Pitcher  &  Manda.) 
Telephone  10  B,  Hllburn.  SHORT  HILLS,  N.  J. 


230 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


AS  YOU 
CONSULT  THIS 
BOOK  FOR 
REFERENCE, 
LIKEWISE 
CONSULT  US 
FOR  YOUR 
SUPPLIES. 

GOOD  STOCK  IS 
ESSENTIAL 
TO  GOOD 
GROWING 

C.  C.  POLLWORTH  CO.,  MILWAUKEE,  Wis. 


^  FElffiSS 


IS.  ^ 


AND  PLANT 

SPECIALIST.. 


Rockford  Seed  Farms, 
Forest  City  Greenhouses, 


III 
j   III* 


Lock  Box  No.  911. 


WHOLESALE  TRADE  PRICE  LIST 
sent  free  to  the  TRADE  upon  application. 


Seeds,  Bulbs, 


for  the.... 


We  make  a  specialty  of  supplying  the  best  that  can  be  grown. 
If  you  do  not  receive  our  catalogue,  write  for  it  ; 
also  our  Special  Florists'  list. 

W.  W.  RAWSON  &  CO. 

12  &  13  Fanenll  Hall  Square, 

.......  BOSTON,  MASS. 


ALL  FLORISTS'  NEEDS  IN 


Cut  Flowers, 
Seeds  and  Supplies 


CAN  BE  OBTAINED  OF 
76-78 


E.  H.  HUNT,  Wab^Ave,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

We  issue  every  Spring  and  Fall  a  Trade  Price  List  of  every-  | 

thing  needed  by  the  trade Mailed  free  to  florists  only.  * 


Herr's  Pansies. 


The  best  in  the  country. 
The  best  florists  will  tell  you  so. 
A  little  better  each  season  but 
always  the  same  price. 

75  cents  per  hundred ;  $4.OO  per  thousand. 


A  marvel  of  cheapness  and  good 

quality  combined. 
40,000    sold  in   "99"   without  a 


llvll   i   jj  11111(1  A*      *«."»y  «««  •"  .-. 

single  complaint, 
Pot  Plants  at  $1.5O  per  hundred;  $15. OO  per  thousand. 

Herr's  Carnations. 


mation  on  varieties  and  prices. 


Rooted  Cuttings  with 
roots  and  selected  with 
an  eye  to  their  making 
good  plants  for  my  cus- 
tomers. Write  for  infor- 


ALBERT  M.  HERR, 

LANCASTER,   PA. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


23J 


Simplicity  in  Greenhouse  Construction. 


During  our  long  experience  we  have  not  only  made  many  im- 
provements in  greenhouses,  but  we  have  so  simplified  the  con- 
struction that  building  a  greenhouse  is  no  longer  a  matter  so  full 
of  complications  as  to  tax  the  patience  and  the  ingenuity  of  even 
the  most  intelligent  mechanic.  Our 

Clear  Cypress  Building  Material 

is  worked  out  in  the  best  manner  ready  to  be  put  up,  and  we 
furnish  our  customers  such  complete  detail  drawings  that  any 
workman  of  only  ordinary  capabilities  can  put  it  up  correctly. 


WRITE    FOR   CIRCULARS   OR    ESTIMATES. 


LOCKLAND  LUMBER  CO.,  Lodland,  Ohio. 


THE  QUEEN 


Adjustable 
Flower  and 
Plant  Stand 

Each  stand  ad- 
justable 9  inches 
from  floor  to  30 
inches  in  height 
or  more  if  r  ;- 
quired. 

THE 

MOST  USEFUL 
PLANT 
STAND 
KNOWN. 


Enameled  in 
White.  Green, 
Ruby  Red  and 
Blue,  or  any  col- 
or desired 

MANUFACTURED  BY 


THE  LINCOLN  COMPANY, 

54-70  Arch  Street,  HARTFORD,  CONN. 


VREDENBURG  &  Co., 


ROCHESTER,  N.  Y., 


I'TJBLr.SUKK.S    OF 


Fruit  a*  Flower  Plates 


IN  AXiI.  PROCESSES. 

Over  3,000  varieties  constantly  in  stock. 


Engraving  to  order   and  Stock  Cuts  of  all 
kinds  for   sale. 


SEED  PACKETS  AND  OTHER  PRINTED  OR  LITHOGRAPHED  SUPPLIES. 


ARTISTICALLY  ARRANGED  AND  PRINTED  CATALOGUES  A  SPECIALTY. 
•WRITE  !*OR  QUOTA  TIOHS. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


Established  1765 


NORTH  CAMBRIDGE,   MASS. 


The  Largest 
Manufacturers 
in  the  World  of 


Flower  Pots 


ILLUSTRATED  CATALOGUE  ON  APPLICATION. 


Pern  Pans. 


'No.  388. 


SOMETHING  NEW  IN  FERN  PANS 

AND  SAUCERS. 

These  Pans  are  made  thin  and  strong,  and 
the  Saucers  very  shallow.  They  are  very  popu- 
lar, and  are  made  in  eight  sizes,  to  be  sold  with 
or^without  saucers. 

i  ,<*  The  Pans  are  especially  adapted  for  linings 
to  porcelain  and  Silver  Fern  pans. 


Saucers  for  No.  388. 


Hammond's  Paint  5HCT 

For  20  years  many  florists  throughout  the  United  States  have  used  this  paint.    The 
purest  and  most  durable  that  can  be  made.  At  prices  to  the  craft  that  will  pay  to  use  it. 

EVERY  GREENHOUSE  MAN  SHOULD  TRY  THIS  PAINT. 


SEMI-LIQUID.    USED  IN  BULB  OR  MACHINE. 

In  Gallon  Cans  and  Larger  Packages.  It  has  no  equal  probably  for  Greenhouse  work. 

B,  HAMMOND,  PAINT  AND  SLUG  SHOT  WORKS,  Fishkill-on-Hudson,  N,  Y, 


Have  You  Used  the   Perfect  Flower  Pot 

Handle  and  Hanger? 


It  is  just  the  thing  to  display  your  plants 
by  hanging  them  on  walls,  etc.,  especially 
when  you  are  crowded  for  room. 

Also  for  lifting  plants  out  of  Jardinieres.    Will 
sustain  a  weight  of  100  Ibs. 

No.  1    Will  fit  from  2  to   E-inch  pots,  per  doz.,  30c 
No.  2          "         "     5  to   8        "  "          40c 

No.  3          "         "     8  to  12        "  "          50c 

By  mail,  l<"c  extra  per  doz. 
Sample  pair,  lOc  postpaid. 

For  Sale  by  all  Florists'  Supply  Dealers. 

W.  C.  KRICK, 

1287  Broadway,   BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


USE 

W,  C,  KRICK'S 

FLORISTS- 
IMMORTELLE 
LETTERS,  ETC. 

Medal  awarded  at 
the  World's  Fair  and 
highest  award  wher- 
ever exhibited. 

These  Letters  and 
Designs  are  made  of 
the  best  Immortelles 
wired  on  -wood  or  me- 
tal frames,  having 
holes  drilled  in  them 
to  insert  toothpicks, 
by  which  they  are  fas- 
tened in  the  design. 
Give  them  a  trial. 
You  will  find  these 
goods  to  be  superior 
to  any  in  the  market 
2-in.  Letters.  $2.50 
'  per  100.  Postage  15 
cents  per  100. 

For  other  styles  of  Letters,  Emblems  and  Designs, 
send  for  catalogue.  Before  purchasing  send  for  free 
Sample  and  catalogue,  and  compare  with  any  other 
letter  on  the  market. 


THE  FLORISTS^  MANUAL. 


233 


* 
* 
* 
* 

* 
* 


* 
* 
* 


* 

* 


STEAM 


WATER 


* 
* 

* 
* 


!  Hart  &  Grouse  Co.,  Utica,  N.  Y. ! 

|         COLUMBUS,  0.    CHICAGO.    ST.  LOUS.    NEW  YORK.        f 


SAVE   REPAIR 

AND  PUT  IN 

IRON  BENCHES  WITH 

Jennings'  Fittings 

Easily  and  quickly  put  together.  No  threads,  no  angle 
irons,  no  nails.  Specially  designed  for  the  construction  of 
iron  bench  frames  and  roof  supports  in  greenhouses,  con- 
servatories, etc.  With  these  fittings  the  cost  and  labor  of 
erecting  iron  benches  is  brought  down  to  a  minimum.  Also 
"Jennings'  Improved  Vaporizing  Pans."  Send  for  catalogue 
and  price  list.  JENNINGS  BROS.,  Olney,  Phila.,  Pa. 


100%  PROFIT 
FOR  YOU 

And  Entire  Satisfaction  to  your 
Customers.  What  more  does 
anybody  want 

WALKER'S  EXCELSIOR 
FLOWER  FOOD 

Is  odorless  and  soluble  and  an  ideal 

food  for  house  plants.  Send  for  free 
literature  and  price  list.  When  you 
want  anything  you  want  the  best. 

We  also  furnish  the  plant  food  in 
bulk  for  florists'  use. 

FLOWER  CITY  PUNT  FOOD  CO,, 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 


Gulf  Cypress  Greenhouse  Material. 

reenhouse  Glass  ^  «* 

LINSEED  OIL,  PUTTY,  MASTICA,  WHITE  LEAD,  Etc.,  Etc. 
GLAZIERS'  AND  FLORISTS'  DIAMOND  GLASS  CUTTERS. 
VAN  REYPER'S  GLAZING  POINTS. 


GET  OUR  PRICES  BEFORE  BUYING. 


S.  Jacobs  &  Sons, 

Office:  406  West  13th  St.,  NEW  YORK. 

FACTORY   STOREHOUSE: 
Flushing'  and  Metropolitan  Aves.,  Borough  of  Queens,  H.  Y. 


vxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

1  FLORISTS'  BOXES  and          j 
MAILING  PACKAGES. 

4 

-M 


±X 


Write  for  samples  and  prices. 


The  Dayton  Paper  Novelty  Go.,  Dayton,  Ohio. 


234 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


THOS.  W.  WEATHERED'S  SONS, 

ESTABLISHED  1859. 

Horticultural   Architects  and  Builders 


....AND   MANUFACTURERS  OF.... 

GREENHOUSE  HEATING  AND  VENTILATING  APPARATUS. 

Winners  of  the  Highest  Award.... 

AT  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR; 

THE  DEAN  GOLD  MEDAL,  MADISON  SQUARE  GARDEN 

FOR  BEST  AMATEUR  GREENHOUSE; 
CERTIFICATE  OF  MERIT,  SOCIETY  AMERICAN 

FLORISTS,  and  the 
SILVER  MEDAL  FOR  1898  of  the  N.  Y.  FLORISTS'  CLUB. 

REPORT  OF  JUDGES: 

Model  of  Iron  Frame  Greenhouse  combining  many 
good  qualities,  and  the  Committee  consider  same  worthy 
of  special  mention.  Points  awarded: 

Utility ..  3O 

Simplicity 25 

Desirability 2O 

Cheapness is 

9O 

(Signed)    JOHN  N.  MAY,  Chairman,  \ 

JULIUS  ROEHRS,  /  ,,._„, 

LAWRENCE  HAFNER,     f  -lud^es 
A.  S.  BURNS,  ) 


our  patent  Iron 


CONSERVATORIES,  GREENHOUSES,  Etc., 


Frame  Construction,  or  of  Wood  and  Iron  combined,  or  of  Wood 
alone.     Hot-Bed  Sash,  Frames,  etc. 

Self=Feeding  Hot  Water  Boilers. 


THE  WEATHERED 
PATENT  IMPROVED  SECTIONAL  BOILER 


TWO  SIZES. 


Also 


For  Small  Greenhouses  and 
Conservatories. 


1899 
MODEL, 


CONICAL 
BOILERS 

FIVE  SIZES. 


COPYRIGHTED 


SECTIONAL  VIEW. 

A  Few  Points  Claimed  for  this  Boiler: 

Simplicity  of  construction. 
Sectional  headers. 
Sectional  ash-pit. 
Maximum  vertical  circulation. 
Minimum  friction. 
Direct  or  indirect  draft. 
Smoke-box  on  front  or  back. 
Rapidity  of  water  circulation. 
Easily  cleaned  in  every  part. 
Grates  on  level  with  fire-door  opening. 
Greatest  amount  of  boiler  surface  exposed  to  radient  heat. 
Heating  surfaces  so  arranged  in  fire-box  that  the  hot  gases  must 
strike  every  part  before  entering  combustion  chamber. 


Send  four  cents  for  catalogue,  Greenhouse  Construction  or  Greenhouse  Heating. 


THOS.  W.  WEATHERED'S  SONS, 


FACTORY,  196  to  240  Orient  Ave.,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 
OFFICE,  46  and  A&  Marion  St.  (New  Elm  St.),  New  York. 


THE  FLORISTS'  MANUAL. 


All  It  ALJ 


Capable  and  experienced  specialists,  give  close  and  personal  attention  to  all  matters,  so  that  high  class  service  alone  is  obtainable 
at  moderate  charges.    Results  demonstrate  our  policy  to  be  a  wise  one. 

National  Florists'  Board  of  Trade, 

(INCORPORATED.) 

IT  DOES  PROTECT  NURSERYMEN,  SEEDSMEN  AND  FLORISTS  AND  KINDRED  INTERESTS. 

(Rooms  54,  55,  56)     National  Shoe  and  Leather  Bank  Building,          IV  I  P*  %  A  f      \X^NP^I.^ 
271     BROADWAY,     (Corner  Chambers  Street,)        IN  L  W     YURIY 


We  can  assist  you 
in  many  ways. 

Note  "Our  Specialties" 
and  "Our  Policy." 

Write 

Cornelius  S.  Loder,  Sec'y, 

for  full  information. 

European  and  American 
references,  covering 
every  branch  of  the 
Horticultural  business 
to  be  had  on  application. 


OUR  SPECIALTIES: 
Collections  everywhere. 
Credit  reports  furnished. 
Publishers  of  the  credit 

information  and  black 

lists. 
Transportation  losses 

adjusted. 
Partnerships  organized 

and  Companies 

incorporated. 
Commercial  and  Corpo- 
ration Law  attended 

to  by  Counsel. 


ANY   MEMBER  OF  THE  TRADE   IS   INVITED  TO  ACCEPT  THE   HOSPITALITIES  OF  OUR  OFFICE  WHEN    IN   NEW  YORK. 


INDEX  TO  ADVERTISERS. 


Allen,   J.  K 226 

American  Rose  Co 53, 193 

Bassett  &  Washburn 101 

Berning,   H.  G 101 

Benthey  &  Co .101 

Berger,  H.  H.  &  Co 225 

Bobbink   &   Atkins 225 

Buckbee,  H.  W 230 

Burpee,  W.  Atlee  &  Co 228 

Chicago  House  Wrecking  Co 119 

•Cleary  &  Co 203 

Cottage  Gardens    .....45,53,57,67,108 

Craig,  Robt.  &  Son 226 

Growl  Fern  Co 101 

Darlington,  H.  D 81 

Dayton  Paper  Novelty  Co 233 

Dillon,  J.  L 53, 101, 193,  220 

Dreer,  Henry  A 229 

Eichholz,  Henry .229 

Eisele,  C 53 

Elliott,  W.  H ...228 

Elliott,  W.  &  Sons 225 

Ellwanger  &  Barry 228 

Esler,  J.  G.  &  A 223 

Florists'  Publishing  Co. . .  .101,  203,  228 

Flower  City  Plant  Food  Co 233 

Gibbons,   H.   W 119,130 

'Good  &  Reese  Co 195 

Hagemann  &  Meyer ..225 


Hammond,  B 

Hart  &  Grouse  Co 

Henderson,  Peter  &  Co. 

Herr,  Albert.  M 

Hews,  A.   H.  &  Co 

Hill,  E.  G.  &  Co 


232 

233 

225 

230 

232 

229 

Hitchings  &  Co 113, 127 

Hunt,  E.  H 230 

Jackson  &  Perkins  Co 193 

Jacobs,  S.  &  Sons 233 

Jennings  Bros 233 

Joosten,  C.  H 195 

Kasting,    Wm.   F 101 

Kelsey,  Harlan  P 70 

Krick,  W.  C 232 

Kuehn,  C.  A 101 

Kuhl,  Geo.  A 101 

Langjahr,   Alfred   H 203 

Lincoln  Co.,  The 231 

Lockland  Lumber  Co 231 

Long,  Daniel  B 195,  210 

Lord  &  Burnham  Co 115, 129 

Lucas,  John  &  Co 110, 193 

McDowell,   J.    A 159 

McFadden,   Emerson  C 229 

McKellar  &  Winterson 101 

McManus,  James   226 

Manufacturers'    Rubber   Co 223 

Michel  Plant  and  Bulb  Co 203 


Model  Plant  Stake  Co 53 

Moninger  Co.,  John  C 119 

Moon,  Samuel  C 124 

National  Florists'  Board  of  Trade. 235 

Ouwerkerk,  P 195 

Pollworth,  C.  C.  Co 230 

Purdy  &  Blauvelt 226 

Rawson,  W.  W.  &  Co 230 

Reeser,  C.  A.  Co 193 

Rice,  M.  &  Co 228 

Roehrs,    Julius    226 

Roemer,  Fred 178 

Scollay,  John  A 130 

Sheridan,   Walter  F 226 

Skabcura  Dip  Co 105 

Smith,  Nathan  &  Son 57 

Steffens,  Emil   101 

Storrs  &  Harrison  Co 193 

Stumpp  &  Walter  Co 225 

Thorburn,  J.  M.  &  Co 203 

Tobacco  Warehousing   Co 105 

Vervaet  de  Vos,  Eug 227 

Vredenburg  &  Co 231 

Weathered's  Sons,  Thos.  W 234 

Wilcox,  J.  F 229 

Wittbold,  Geo 171 

Young,  John  Welsh i.175 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Due  er»d  of  FAU 

subject  to  recalf  after 


LD  21-100m-9,'48iB399sl6)476 


YE  09872 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


